Third Year
by Darkmagiciangirl-508
Summary: Things are changing at Hogwarts; with a murderer on the loose and with it in for Harry, security tightens up. Friendships will be tested and with yet another new teacher, will anyone ever learn to defend themselves from the Dark Arts? And to top it off, there's a lot of homework. There's one thing for sure: There's no such thing as a quiet year at Hogwarts.
1. The Leaky Cauldron

*Welcome to Third Year, I honestly didn't think I'd get here, so I hope you enjoy!*

"Seto! Wake up, you won't guess who's downstairs!" One blue eye opened slowly and its owner looked into the face of his younger brother, who was already dressed and raring to go. It was Mokuba's first time in Diagon Alley and he wanted to see everything worth seeing. The two brothers had travelled with their friends via private jet, courtesy of Kaiba Corp this year and they had only arrived late last night. Seto sighed and slowly sat up, and smoothed his bed-head into its usual style.

"Who is it?" He yawned, getting up and dressing.

"Your friends from school; Ron and Hermione!"  
"Really?" It would be nice to finally be able to talk to someone on an equal level of intelligence; it was one of the reasons he got on so well with Hermione. She too understood just how important their studies were. Pulling on his signature white coat, he and Mokuba walked out of their room in the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding pub concealed in London. Only if one knew it was there, could they see it, so normal muggles couldn't stumble into it; the only muggles who could find it were relatives of wizards and witches, either through blood or marriage. This was the case with Mokuba; Seto was a muggleborn wizard (he had no wizarding relatives) and Mokuba had no magical abilities; it was a bit disappointing for the young boy, but his big brother always liked to try to buy him something in Diagon Alley. They made their way down the stairs and sure enough, there was Ron and Hermione, along with Ron's parents, younger sister, Ginny, and older brothers, Fred, George and Percy. Yugi, Yami, Marik and Ryou were already awake; Seto assumed Bakura was still sleeping.

"Good morning," He greeted.

"Oh hello Seto dear," said Mrs Weasley. "And how have you been?"  
"I've been well Mrs Weasley," he replied, with a small smile. It had been a long time since his own mother had died, and Mrs Weasley almost seemed to fill that void for the young CEO... Even if he'd never admit it.

"Have you got all of your books? And all of your clothes?"  
"Yes, it's all upstairs."  
"Good boy," Mrs Weasley smiled, patting his cheek before bustling over to sort out the twins who seemed to be up to no good... Again... As Seto and Mokuba seated themselves at the table, the door opened and a very familiar person walked in.

"Oh hello everyone."  
"Hiya Kate," said Hermione quickly hugging her friend.

"Hi Hermione, good summer so far? Where's Bakura?"

"Still asleep," Yami said through a mouthful of toast. Behind her were three other people; one of them was Adio, her older brother who had been petrified by the Basilisk terrorising the school the previous year, and the other two could only be her parents. Mr Utashabi was dark haired, with tanned skin and a thin moustache. He stood quite proudly but there was a kind twinkle in his eyes; Mrs Utashabi was fair haired, and her skin was a beautiful bronze with soft eyes; quite clearly, Kate took after her. Adio looked far more like his father, though he looked a little moody.

"So these are your friends from school Kaitlin?"

"Yes mum. Although I take it Harry's not here?" They shook their heads. Harry Potter was the only member of their group not present; he was also incredibly famous in the wizarding world, for at the age of one year, his parents were murdered by the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort. However when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, miraculously the spell backfired and Voldemort, barely alive and bodiless, fled. Harry encountered Voldemort for the second time two years ago, along with Yami, Yugi and Bakura, and survived again, having prevented Voldemort's return to power and to a body; and only weeks ago, did Harry and Marik confront a piece of Voldemort's sixteen year old self contained in a diary and destroy it along with his Basilisk. Over the year, Tom Riddle, Voldemort's real name, had possessed and controlled both Ginny and Yugi and force them to do terrible things. Yes, he was a powerful wizard, but as long as he was prevented from returning to a true body, he was weaker than he had been once.

"And you must be Mr and Mrs Weasley? Thank you for having our Kaitlin last summer; I heard you were also in Egypt this summer?" Mr Utashabi said, shaking hands with Mr Weasley.

"Oh yes, we won the prize galleon draw and visited our son, Bill. He works as a curse breaker for Gringotts; and it was our pleasure to have Kate around," Mrs Weasley said.

"So I'll wake Bakura then?" And before anyone could stop her, she ran off to perform her favourite job from last summer, wake up Bakura in the most irritating way possible. They were best friends, but liked to see who was the most annoying from time to time.

"How'll she know which room he's in?" asked Marik. There was a roar of anger, and Kate reappeared, being chased by a furious tomb robber who was covered in paint; she was laughing as she ran and everyone but Bakura seemed to find it hilarious; except Mr Utashabi and Adio.

"Kaitlin, what have you been told about teasing people?" He said sternly.

"That it'll bite me in the ass later, I know but its fun!"

"LET'S SEE HOW FUNNY YOU FIND IT WHEN I CATCH YOU!" Soon the whole Leaky Cauldron was watching out of amusement and someone even shouted: "Its breakfast and a show!" Eventually Bakura just gave up and Mrs Weasley quickly waved her wand, leaving him spotless. The tomb robber trudged upstairs to change out of his pyjamas, a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt. They were still giggling when he returned. He gave his best friend a filthy glare, though she just laughed and waited for them to finish breakfast so they could head into Diagon Alley. Whilst Seto might have brought all of his books, no one else had and plus they all needed their new school supplies.

"You know, mum and dad gave me some extra money for my birthday this year, and I decided to get an owl," said Hermione. "They are _very_ useful after all."

As per usual, wizards and witches of all ages were bustling up and down the alley, and though Mokuba wanted to go into every shop first, they needed to exchange their money for wizarding currency; galleons, sickles and knuts. Kate's family and the Weasley's were going to the vaults, whilst Seto and his friends used the exchange. Kate, Bakura, Fred and George departed for Zonko's Joke Shop to check out the merchandise (in other words restock whatever had been used up over the year.) Apparently it ended up in Bakura having to drag Kate out before a bitch fight started between the latter and a Slytherin girl called Nikki Harris. It was a sour way to start the morning, but Fred and George 'accidently' dropped a dung bomb right on top of her head from the second floor which cheered Kate up greatly. Seto took Mokuba into just about every shop worth visiting, though he wouldn't let him into Zonko's as long as the twins were in the vicinity of the store. After getting all of their books, supplies, new robes and the like, they entered Magical Menagerie; they sold all sorts of animals in there, apart from Owls. That was the job of Eylop's Owl Emporium. When they walked in it was dark and the smell was musty; the walls were lined with cages and cages of all sorts of animals; in the window there was a tank containing a huge, jewelled tortoise, in another cage there was a white rabbit that turned into a top hat with a faint 'pop' and quite a lot of cats, rats and toads. There was a stubby witch behind the counter, who peered over at them. Ron walked over and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Um, could you look at my pet rat, Scabbers? He's been off colour ever since we came home from Egypt." The rat definitely seemed unhealthy; when he had once been plump and covered in thick fur, he was now incredibly thin and patches of fur were falling out.

"Ooh dear, not looking very good." There was a cage of glossy black rats on the counter nearby; the rats scurried to inspect Scabbers from the bars of their cage. "How old is he?"  
"Well, he's been in my family for twelve years," replied Ron.

"Well, common garden rats only live for three to four years; has he ever just showed any magical abilities?" If sleeping for hours on end counted as a magical ability, then Scabbers could defeat Voldemort single handedly with three paws tied behind his back. Ron just shook his head. "Well I'm afraid that he seems to be at the end of his rope; perhaps one of these might be considered a suitable replacement?" She gestured to the black rats that quickly began skipping with their tails.

"Bloody show offs," muttered Ron in disgust.

"Well if you don't want a replacement, then you could always use this Rat Tonic, might help him back onto his feet." The witch produced a small red bottle from beneath the counter.  
"Okay, how much?"

Yugi wandered around, and stroked a small tabby kitten that mewed at him and butted its head against Yugi's finger. Yami walked over and smiled. "Seems you have a fan."  
"Maybe... Reckon mum would let me keep her?"  
"Well, seeing as she lets me keep Karim on the basis he doesn't make a racket, I'm sure a cat would be fine."  
"How much is-"  
"YEOWCH!" Just as Ron had handed over his money for his Rat Tonic, something large and ginger leapt from the rafters above and landed on Ron's head, hissing and spitting.  
"CROOKSHANKS! NO" The witch screeched. In fright, Scabbers slipped out of the witch's hands and made for the door.  
"Scabbers!" Ron shouted and ran out after him; Ryou, Yami and Marik followed and they eventually found Scabbers under a waste paper bin outside of Flourish and Blotts. "What was that thing?"  
"Either a very big cat or a small tiger," remarked Ryou. "Let's head back, I think Hermione would've brought her owl by now." Nodding they headed back to Magical Menagerie, but as they approached and Yugi, Hermione, Seto, Bakura, Kate and Mokuba walked out they stopped. Yugi was carrying his kitten but in Hermione's arms wasn't on owl, but a bundle of ginger fluff, which upon closer inspection was the same cat who attacked Ron.

"You _brought_ that thing?" Ron exclaimed.

"Isn't he gorgeous? The witch in there said he was in there for ages and no one wanted him!"

"Trust me mate, I tried talking her out of it, but she won't hear another word about it," Bakura sighed.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sighed Yami. He stroked the kitten Yugi was carrying gently. "Well at least if you both had to buy cats, one of you got the nice one," he whispered. Yugi suppressed a giggle; the kitten in his arms was a grey-brown colour with black stripes and a white belly with big blue eyes; meanwhile the larger cat carried by Hermione was bandy legged, with a thick fluffy ginger coat and a squashed face as though it had ran face-first into a wall. 'To each their own I guess,' thought Yami.

"Hermione, that _thing_ nearly scalped me!" Ron complained, though Hermione didn't appear to be listening. Instead she slapped the Rat Tonic into his hand.

"You left that in there; don't worry, Scabbers will be in your dormitory and Crookshanks will be in mine. The only thing you have to worry about it Yugi's cat and right now she couldn't catch a rat if she wanted to." Its true; the kitten was rather tiny and was probably more interested in cuddles than chasing rats right now. However things didn't improve.

Three days later and Crookshanks kept chasing Scabbers all over the place; Mana, Yugi's kitten, much preferred going for people's toes and was so little it seemed everyone thought she was absolutely adorable. Marik said that Bakura's position as Kitty was in serious jeopardy now; the tomb keeper ended up with a slap upside the head and some bruises on his arm to match. Hermione and Ron's typical arguments were more frequent than ever now.

"I'm warning you Hermione, keep that bloody beast of yours away from Scabbers or I'll turn it into a tea-cosy!" Ron threatened after rescuing Scabbers again, Hermione clutching Crookshanks.

"He's a cat Ron, it's in his nature!" What they didn't realise that someone was watching them from the stairs, grinning.

"A cat? Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me!" Ron retaliated.

"That's rich coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush!" Hermione snapped.

"I love my pissy friends," Kate laughed. Bakura grinned too.

"Harry!" They followed Ron's gaze, and standing on the stairs was a fully dressed Harry, grinning down at them.

"Harry," they chorused, and they quickly exchanged hugs. "Good to see you, how's your summer been?"

"Good thank you Yugi, and you?" The chat was quite normal, and Harry was clearly glad to be among friends.

"Did you hear about Sirius Black?"

"Who?"  
"Sirius Black; he's escaped the prison Azkaban. He's the first person to ever do it; he's a murderer, he killed thirteen people with one curse, one of them was a wizard, the other's were unsuspecting muggles," Fred explained.

"The muggles just thought it was a gas leak that caught alight. It was a difficult cover up, but they managed. Even the muggles have been warned about Black; he's dangerous to anyone he meets," George added. They were eating dinner the night before leaving for Hogwarts on the school train. "To be honest mate, I think him running free was the only reason they let you up for blowing your aunt." There was laughter following this.  
"It's not funny, Harry's lucky he wasn't expelled!"

"I think I was lucky not to be arrested actually." Harry lived with his horrible relatives, the Dursleys ever since his parents were murdered, and this summer, for one week, his Aunt Marge was visiting; she wasn't really his aunt, she was his uncle's sister, Harry's mother was the sister of Mrs Dursley, but Harry was forced to call her Aunt Marge anyway. Aunt Marge disliked Harry just as much as her brother, and she bred bulldogs. But this visit was different; she made the mistake of insulting Harry's parents; Harry fiercely defended their memories, so when she insulted them so freely, Harry's emotions ran wild and he lost control of his magic for a moment, inflating his aunt like a balloon. She was fixed and her memory modified, but by that time, Harry had run away. He was picked up by the Knight Bus, a magical, violet, three Decker bus with no regard for safety; the driver drove as mad as he liked and everything would leap out of the way. The thing was that the bus could travel huge distances in a split second. Personally Harry found the whole ride un-enjoyable.

"I still think it was brilliant; in future one of you make me angry enough to blow Snape up like that," smirked Bakura. Yami shook his head.

"Sorry Tomb Robber, find yourself someone else to blow up; if anyone's blowing up Snape it's me!" retaliated Yami.

"Like I said before, I love my pissy friends!" joked Kate, only to receive a spoonful of mash potato in the face, courtesy of Bakura.

"And _that_ is for this morning!"

To Be Continued...

So yes, I'm taking elements from the book and film for this chapter and the next one. Mana is such a cute kitty! She's just like my cats when they were kittens ^^ So yeah, I was urged to start this and I'm in a typing mood, so I got started right away. I'll have a break tomorrow and pick up chapter 2 tomorrow. Thank you my loyal readers ^^


	2. The Dementor

The following morning was incredibly busy; there was a dash of last minute packing and people dragging trunks up and down stairs; Mr Utashabi and Mr Weasley had to leave for work at the Ministry, so only Mrs Weasley and Mrs Utashabi would be seeing the children off. Yugi was trying to get Mana into her cat basket, though she clearly did not want to. Her tiny claws created scratch marks on Yugi's fingers as he began fastening the straps.

"You'd think after being stuck in a cage would mean she'd just suck it up," Bakura remarked as Yugi finally latched it shut.

"She's gotten used to being out of that cage, she doesn't want to go back in it again," Yugi replied, scratching the mewing kitten through the bars, she was very clearly upset. Yami's owl, Karim, seemed determined to prove he was far more mature and the minute Yami opened the cage door, he flew from the perch in the room into his cage and actually closed it with his beak.

"Ruddy show off," Bakura muttered in a Ron-esque manner, whilst Yami just chuckled and stroked the Barn Owl through the bars before locking the cage door securely. Harry was returning upstairs to fetch his own owl, Hedwig, from his room and she looked rather disgruntled when he returned downstairs.

"I don't think she appreciated being brought down second," Harry laughed. Hedwig was very intelligent and certainly had a lot of pride. It was no wonder she and Karim clashed on occasion; both were very proud birds. Mrs Weasley and Mrs Utashabi were hurrying everyone along.

"The Ministry's lent us cars to get to Kings Cross," Fred explained.

"We reckon it's you mate, what with the raving loony running loose," George added. Outside of the Leaky Cauldron were two lime green cars, each with a driver in a similarly coloured green suit who awaited them. They loaded the trunks into the boots and the rat, owls and cats went with their owners. Yugi, Yami, Seto, Marik, Harry, Ron, Adio, Mrs Weasley and Ginny took one car, whilst in the second Fred, George, Bakura, Kate, Hermione, Mrs Utashabi, Ryou, Mokuba and, to his personal horror, Percy took the second. It was incredibly similar to Mr Weasley's old Ford Anglia, which now was running loose somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, with the fact that they all fit rather comfortably into the cars with no problem. Undetectable extension charms were in place, so despite the small amount of room there appeared to be from the outside, there was a much larger space inside. Naturally, Fred, George, Bakura and Kate had messed with Percy; they had stolen his Prefect Badge the night before and messed with it; instead of Head Boy, it now read Head Prick and he couldn't understand why they kept sniggering. To Harry, it seemed the cars were very similar to the Knight Bus, except that the drivers weren't mad like Ernie Prang, driver of the Knight Bus, but the Ministry Cars certainly slipped through gaps no ordinary car could slip through and they somehow jumped to the front of the queue. When they did arrive at Kings Cross, they had a full ten minutes before eleven o'clock. The drivers retrieved trolleys for them and they started running through the barriers between Platforms 9 and 10 which would lead to Platform 9 ¾ where they would catch the Hogwarts Express. They went in small groups to avoid attracting any attention from muggles; Yami and Yugi leant casually against the barrier chatting and slid right through the seemingly solid wall. They emerged on the other side of the barrier and soon the group was reunited. There was five minutes to eleven o'clock and began loading their luggage on to the train and hopped on, hanging out of the window to say goodbye.

"We'll drop Mokuba off at the airport for you Seto and see to it he gets onto the plane alright," Mrs Weasley assured.

"Thank you Mrs Weasley, I appreciate it," Seto said. "I'll write to you tonight Mokuba."  
"Okay, see you at Christmas Seto!"

"So you're going home for Christmas this year?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I'd like to spend some time with my brother this year." They finished saying their goodbyes, before Fred and George left to find their best friend, Lee Jordan, Percy disappeared to the Prefects Compartment with Adio and Ginny went off to find her own friends.

After searching, they same close to the end of the train when they found the emptiest compartment they could; it was empty except for one man, fast asleep in shabby robes. They paused, hesitant.  
"Come on, everywhere else is full," said Hermione, sliding the door open and moving to sit down. It was a tight fit, with the stranger, but they managed. Though it was strange; they had never seen an adult on the train apart from the witch who came around with the lunch trolley and the driver.  
"Who is he?" wondered Ryou as he took the seat by the window.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," answered Hermione. There was a pause.

"You know everything; how is it you know everything?" Ron exclaimed, mouth slightly agape. "It's on his suitcase, Ronald," She sighed, fiddling with the straps on Crookshanks' cat basket.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron shouted, though it was too late and Crookshanks sprung free and onto the compartment floor; large yellow eyes trained intently on Ron's rucksack in the luggage rack. From the cage on Yugi's lap, Mana started mewing loudly again, and her owner quickly let her out as well; the minute she stretched out, she went straight to batting the bangs framing Yami's face, everyone laughing, except for Ron who was watching Crookshanks suspiciously. Harry eyed Lupin and said: "Do you suppose he's really asleep?"  
"Seems to be, why?" asked Marik, looking over at Lupin as well. Eyes narrowing, Harry stood and slid the door shut as he said: "I've got to tell you something; last night I overheard Mr and Mrs Weasley talking, and now I know _why_ the Ministry was concerned enough about my running away to overlook blowing up my aunt: Sirius Black is after me." The shocked silence filled the compartment and only the sound of Lupin's breathing and the sound of rain gently starting to beat against the rain broke it. Harry sighed and continued. "He was a supporter of Voldemort - still is – and he thinks he kills me, Voldemort can come back." No one spoke for a solid five minutes.  
"So let's get this straight; Sirius Black has broken out of Azkaban, the inescapable prison, to come after you?" asked Yugi after what seemed like an age. Harry nodded soberly.

"But they'll catch Black won't they? Everyone's looking for him," pointed out Kate.

"Well yeah, but he's a mad, raving lunatic," muttered Ron, in the least encouraging way possible, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Marik. "What? Oh, sorry," he said when he saw the look on Harry's face. "But think, Dumbledore is the only person You-Know-Who was ever scared of, so Black should be too; as long as Dumbledore's around, Black can't touch you."  
"Ron's right; besides I doubt anyone is as much as a raving lunatic as Bakura here," joked Yami.

"Yes, and I shall send you all to the Shadow Realm where the Shadows shall devour your innards and fornicate with your skulls!" said Bakura slyly, going along with the joke.

"I don't want to know what that means," Marik replied dryly, though the smirk on his face indicated he had some knowledge on it. They all loosened up and began their usual speculations.

"So I'm guessing Lupin is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"  
"Hope he's up to it; he looks like one good hex would finish him off."

_/What do you think, Yami?/_

_/Let's hope he's got some idea on what he's doing, or else we'll be in trouble/_

The previous two teachers they had in the subject, Professor Quirrel and Professor Lockhart (or 'Lockfart' as Bakura liked to call him) had only lasted a year each and had taught them nothing worthwhile knowing, except for not to let pixies loose. Professor Quirrel had been possessed by Lord Voldemort, who protruded from the back of his head and left Quirrel to die when he couldn't touch Harry; Lockhart was famous for his exploits against the Dark Arts, but last year was exposed as a fraud and an attempted Memory-Charm backfired on him.

"Ron, did you ever get a new wand?" asked Kate. At the beginning of last year, Ron's wand was broken and kept backfiring and ended up as dangerous.

"Yep," he pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "Willow, Unicorn Tail Hair, 14 inches; mum and dad brought it for me after we won the galleon prize draw! Works better than the old one ever did."

"Gonna try and use it to turn your rat yellow again," Bakura smirked spitefully. Back when they first met Ron, he attempted a spell given to his by his older brother, Fred, to turn Scabbers yellow, though it was a dud.

After about an hour, they mostly forgot about Sirius Black's sinister goals, and when the witch who pushed the lunch trolley arrived.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" She asked kindly. Ryou, Ron and Marik stood up and purchased some sweets, when Hermione said: "Should we wake him up?"  
"He looks like he could use something to eat," remarked Seto. Yugi gently tugged on Lupin's arm.  
"Professor Lupin. Professor." However Lupin didn't stir, he just grunted.

"Don't worry dears, if he's hungry when he wakes up I'm up with the driver." She bustled away and Kate closed the door again before Mana could dart out of the door again. Instead she ran straight into the door and ended up landing on her bum, which raised some laughter. She darted back over to Yugi and curled up on his lap.

Though Lupin wasn't great for space, he proved very useful for other things. About halfway through the trip, the door slid open and in walked Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and a Slytherin girl whose skirt was too short to be allowed.

"If it isn't Shabby," she sneered, her dark eyes examining Kate. Her long dark, brown hair was slicked down her back and there were multiple piercings in her ears.  
"What do you lot want?" Kate snapped back.

"Malfoy, you've got yourself a _girlfriend_," Bakura mocked.

The girl opened her mouth, when Malfoy spotted Lupin.

"Who's that?" He asked sharply. Harry smirked this time.

"New professor; now your _girlfriend_ was saying, Malfoy?" Glaring, Malfoy swept away, Crabbe and Goyle stomping behind. The girl leaned against the door frame, smirking, before following her fellow serpents. "So, who was that?"  
"Nicola Harris," Kate replied. "She's awful; she thinks she's so special and thinks wearing a skirt that barely covers her ass makes her better than everyone else."

"In other words, she and Malfoy deserve each other... Don't tell Pansy I said that," Bakura joked. Pansy Parkinson was Slytherin girl with a face like a pug and constantly insulted everyone who wasn't in Slytherin. She seemed to have a bit of a thing for Malfoy and teased just about everyone else outside of Slytherin house. Whilst she was popular in Slytherin, the rest of the school held dislike for her treatment of other students.

As the journey continued, the weather grew wilder and the sky grew darker; the rain pounded down like a cascading waterfall and it was difficult to see very far in the dark. That's when it started: there was a screeching of brakes and the train began to slow; they began to look around and the train came to an absolute stop.

"Why are we stopping? We can't be there yet," said Seto, as Ryou stood up and poked his head out through the door; up and down the carriage other students did the same, until there was a violent start, throwing Ryou back into his feet.

"Maybe we've broken down?" Ryou suggested; then they were plunged into darkness, as the lights had gone out. "Ouch Ron that was my foot," complained Hermione. They saw the outline of Ron press a hand to the window and tried to peer outside in vain.

"There's something moving out there," he whimpered. "I think... There's someone coming aboard." The temperature suddenly plummeted; Harry pulled his jacket sleeves over his hands and rubbed them together. Mana darted into her cage under the seat and Scabbers hid in Ron's jacket; they could see their own breath in front of their faces. Then there was an unpleasant sound; the rain on the window was freezing over into a solid sheet of ice.

"I'll go and check it out," Yami said boldly, making to stand, when a voice cut him off: "Stay there." Silver light illuminated the compartment; Lupin was awake and alert. He looked fairly young, except for the streaks of grey in his hair and the lines on his face; his wand was the source of the light and he made to stand. "Remain where you are." As he stood however, there was a silhouette outside of the compartment; a cloaked being that seemed to paralyze them where they sat with its mere presence. A hand rose slowly and the door began to creak open, and the hand curled around the corner. It was scabby and slimy and looked as though it belonged to something that had died recently. It pushed the door way and the towering figure filled the doorway, and a feeling of emptiness and despair flooded the room. Bakura felt himself freeze; a fog clouded his vision and he suddenly felt heavy. He felt himself fall and as he did, he heard the desperate, familiar screams that haunted his nightmares...

"Harry, Marik, Bakura! Wake up!" The white haired tomb robber slowly opened his eyes and found he was staring sideways. He suddenly became aware he was lying down and sat up; he spotted Harry was sliding his glasses back up his nose and saw Ryou was still shaking Marik awake. Finally the Tomb Keeper was roused, and with a hand running through his sandy hair, Marik pushed himself up. Suddenly there was a huge snapping sound, causing them all to jump. Lupin was sat breaking up a huge slab of chocolate and started handing it out.

"Here, it helps," he said kindly, giving Harry, Marik and Bakura slightly larger pieces. None of them ate; Bakura glanced around him; they were moving again and the lights were back on. Everyone was pale and the ice on the window had melted away.

"What... What was that thing?... That thing that came in?" Harry muttered, asking the question on everyone's minds.

"It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban; it was searching the train for Sirius Black. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with the driver." Lupin stood and made his way to the door, before looking back at them again. "Eat, you'll all feel much better." He swept away, and the cautiously they took a bite of chocolate; it did help, surprisingly, as a fresh warmth spread through them.

"...What happened to us?" Marik asked quietly.

"Well, you sort of went rigid and we thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron.

"And did any of the rest of you... You know, pass out?" Bakura said quietly; it was unusual to hear him talk like that.  
"No... But I felt like I would," Yami admitted. "And, I felt like I'd never be happy again." There were general nods of agreement, when Bakura frowned.

"But there was screaming."  
"I heard someone screaming too. A woman," Harry added.

"No one was screaming guys," said Ron quietly.

Bakura gazed out of the window; he was sure he already knew who those screams belonged to...

To Be Continued...


	3. The Feast

The remainder of the journey was completed in silence; when they pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Yugi and Hermione secured their cats in their cages and they climbed down to the platform.

"Firs' Years over 'ere; hullo you lot; you alrigh'?" They spotted the huge form of the gamekeeper, Hagrid and waved, but couldn't stop to talk as they were shunted along the platform towards the carriages. They caught sight of Professor Lupin, and Ryou gave him a cheery wave which was returned. They climbed into one of the school carriages that pulled themselves along (though for some reason, Marik and Bakura were positive something was pulling them along), they smelt strongly of damp straw and the heavy rain pounded the roof in icy sheets. They trundled up the track towards the iron gates, manned by winged boars and two, towering Dementors. The icy feeling washed over them again, though abated when they were clear of the gate. After a while, Harry became aware the others kept throwing worried glances not only his way, but also at Bakura and Marik as though afraid they might pass out again. While he knew they only meant well, it was a bit irritating; thankfully Marik and Bakura were so wrapped up in their thoughts they didn't notice. When they arrived, they hurried into the entrance hall, dropping off their pets on the way and entered the Great Hall and split up for their individual tables.

"Oi, Potty," they turned and saw Draco Malfoy leaning over, hissing to them. "Is it true you, fluffy and Bishie fainted? I mean all _three_ of you actually _fainted_?" He smirked and Goyle did a mocking impression, earning sniggers from the surrounding Slytherins.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron snapped harshly, turning Harry around.

"How did he find out?" whispered Harry, and they all shrugged in reply. Suddenly, McGonagall swept over with Seto, Bakura and Marik in tow.

"Miss Granger, Mr Potter, follow me," she said quietly. They stood, though unsure of what they had done to be punished already. "You're not in trouble; I just need a quick word in my office." They trooped along behind McGonagall, aware of the people staring after them. For now Professor Flitwick would be performing the Sorting Ceremony, and the new batch of first years filed past them nervously.

They reached McGonagall's office and sat down, as McGonagall took a seat behind her desk.  
"Professor Lupin has informed me you took ill on the train, Potter," said McGonagall and before they could reply, Madam Pomfrey, the matron of the Hospital Wing bustled in.

"Ah, it's you lot again," she said pointedly when she spotted Harry, Bakura and Marik. She pressed a hand to Bakura's forehead. "Yes, he's clammy. Honestly, Dementors in a school; he won't be the first to collapse. They always affect the delicate ones."  
"We're not delicate," snarled Bakura, glaring at her.

"Of course you're not," she replied absentmindedly as she tested Marik's eyes with her wand.

"What do they need? Bed rest? Perhaps they should stay in the Hospital Wing over night?"  
"No!" Harry exclaimed; he could barely stand to imagine the image of Draco Malfoy's face if he heard the three of them had to stay in the hospital wing over this.

"Professor, we're fine; really," Marik assured. McGonagall stared beadily at them.

"Well at the very least they should have some chocolate-"  
"Professor Lupin gave us some on the train," they said in unison.

"Oh did he now? Finally, a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies," Madam Pomfrey said, clearly impressed. They couldn't blame her; their previous teachers in the subject would have been clueless.

"Very well; Potter, Ishtar, and Bakura you may return to the feast. I wish to speak to Mr Kaiba and Miss Granger privately. Thank you Poppy," she said and Madam Pomfrey swept out of the room, followed by Harry, Marik and Bakura. She disappeared into the Great Hall, but the three teens waited for their friends to leave the office as well. When they did, McGonagall was with them, and Seto and Hermione looked rather pleased with something.  
"Professor McGonagall just wanted to discuss our timetables, seeing as we're taking more subjects than most people," said Hermione.

"Well, let us return to the feast; Professor Dumbledore will have some important announcements this evening," said McGonagall. They returned to the Hall and seated themselves once more, just as the Sorting ended and Professor Flitwick carried the stool and hat away.

"Is it just me, or haven't I seen a Sorting since my own?" mused Harry. Yugi smiled and Dumbledore stepped forwards.

"Good evening; to those of you have just been sorted: welcome. To those of you who have returned: welcome back. Now before we are befuddled by our magnificent feast, I am aware that this evening the train was searched by the Dementors of Azkaban; they were searching for Sirius Black. This year, we shall be playing host to the Dementors as part of the new security against Black; now I have been assured by the Minister for Magic that they shall not disrupt our day to day activities, a word of warning: it is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving. They will not differentiate between the one they hunt and the one they get in their way; Dementors can see through invisibility cloaks and disguises, so there shall be no sneaking past them, and all you can do is give them no reason to hurt you." He allowed the words to sink in over the crowd before continuing: "But, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times; if only one remembers to turn on the light." He gave them a smile, and to some it gave comfort. "Now, for a quick word of staff changes; after Professor Lockfart's- forgive me- Lockhart's resignation last year, our Defence Against the Dark Arts post has been filled by Professor Lupin: good luck Professor." He waved a hand to Lupin, who stood and bowed his head. There was scattered applause, though those who had been in Harry's compartment clapped the loudest, knowing what Lupin was capable of, and Bakura wolf whistled jokingly, earning a grin from his friends and strange looks from the people around him. "And sadly, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, has been forced to retire, to spend some more time with his remaining limbs. However his place is being taken by none other than our own, Rubeus Hagrid." The applause, particularly from the Gryffindor table, was deafening as there were whoops and cheers from the students. Hagrid stood and dabbed his eyes with his huge spotted handkerchief.

"We should've known; who else would set a biting book?" Ron shouted over the din. Only when Dumbledore wave a hand over them, did the applause die down and the headmaster was able to start the feast. There was a great deal of chatting and catching up; the first years were discussing their families like they themselves had in the first year. The ten of them were eager for it to finish, as much as it was delicious and exciting to see their friends from their houses again. Malfoy was still doing a fainting impression, but Fred greatly cheered Harry up by saying: "Meh, he looked more pathetic when he came running, crying into our compartment."

"Have you seen Snape?" whispered Kate, nudging Yami with her elbow. He looked over and saw Snape throwing dirty glances at Lupin every few seconds. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the D.A.D.A post, but they had never seen his looking quite this angry.

"Perhaps he's getting sick of never getting the post," Yami muttered in reply, and quickly turned at the sound of choking and thumped Yugi on the back. The poor boy had been half starved the year previously under the influence of Tom Riddle and was still under-weight; a lot of the time he was hungry and could now compete with Ron on who could shovel down food the fastest. He even beat their muggle friend, Joey Wheeler in an eating contest over the summer, and none of their friends back home understood why Yugi was eating so much lately. They weren't allowed to know about magic, so they never knew where they went all year and why Seto Kaiba was suddenly so friendly; though he never passed up the chance to mock Joey's duelling skills. With full stomachs, they made their way out of the hall and up to the dormitories; Bakura, Ryou and their fellow Hufflepuffs headed down to the kitchens, as their common room was located on the same corridor; Seto, Marik and the Ravenclaws headed for their tower; the Slytherins headed for the dungeons and the Gryffindors too, headed for their own tower. When they arrived, they found the Fat Lady, once again, trying to break a glass in her hand, with her voice.

"Again?" Ron groaned.

"Fortuna Major," said Seamus.  
"Wait," she snapped, continuing.

"She won't let me in," moaned Seamus.

"Fortuna Major," growled Yami.

"No, no wait! Wait," she replied and continued.

"Fortuna major!" Kate shouted, causing everyone to jump, even the Fat Lady.

"Oh all right. Go in," she muttered, and the portrait swung open.

"Thank you," strained Harry and they clambered in.

"She's still doing it," Harry groaned.  
"I know mate, she can't even sing," said Seamus as they headed for their dormitory.

"Exactly." They climbed the stairs and reached their room, the new plaque reading 'Third Years' and pushed the door open. It looked the same as ever, and their belongings had been brought up, including Mana who was pawing at the door of her cage when Yugi came in. He opened the door and the little kitten leapt onto the floor and began exploring the room. Dean chuckled.

"She's a cutie, isn't she? It is a 'she' right?" He asked, glancing at Yugi, who nodded and closed the door so she couldn't escape. As they began changing into pyjamas, Mana investigated Harry trunk and tumbled in, causing them all to laugh.  
"Well, I think she'll be a great laugh in here," Seamus laughed, as Harry fished her out and dumped her on Yugi's bed.

"Yeah, as long as she keeps away from Scabbers," muttered Ron, though he was smirking. The rat was currently sat on Ron's pillow and his little eyes kept darting around in fear. Mana watched the rat from her spot for a second, before losing interest and curling up on Yugi's pillow.

"If she keeps this up, you might just be sleeping on the floor," said Yami, who slid into his own bed.  
"Shut it, or you might just find her invading your bed," murmured Yugi, placing the little kitten at the foot of his own bed and sliding under his own sheets.

"Night all," said Harry, who extinguished the lamps.

To Be Continued...

So yeah, this took a little longer to write than it should have, however I was having a tiny case of writers block with this chapter; however I got it done. Also, as you know yesterday was Harry's birthday! Woo!


	4. Talons and Tea Leaves Part 1

Bakura stretched and scratched his head, yawning as he awoke the following morning. He looked around and saw he was the first one awake; he swung his legs out of bed and changed into his uniform; as he dressed the other boys stirred, mumbling good mornings and began to dress for the day as well. They had spent the previous evening catching up, knowing in the morning they'd all be too busy waking up to do so. Finally dressed, they headed to breakfast, trooping along, rubbing their eyes blearily. They spotted Hannah Abbot, a fellow Hufflepuff and a friend of theirs, and sat down with her; as Bakura made to sit, Pansy Parkinson shrieked across the hall: "Ooh, look out Fluffy! Dementors, whoooo!" The Slytherins burst out laughing and Bakura growled; Ryou yanked his sleeve and forced him to sit down.

"They _want_ you to react. Ignore them," he whispered.

"He's right Bakura; ignore them and they'll be the fools in the end," said Ernie Macmillan, who proceeded to bite into a slice of toast.

"Well if they keep it up, they'll end up in the Shadow Realm for a week as punishment," Bakura mumbled. Ryou shot him a warning look and turned to his own breakfast.  
"New timetables," said Justin, passing them around. "Well, we've got Divination with the Gryffindors first thing. Should be interesting enough."  
"So what do you reckon it'll be like?" wondered Wayne Hopkins, the other boy who shared their dormitory; all in all there was Bakura, Ryou, Ernie, Justin, Wayne and Zacharias Smith.

"Well it will most likely be just an introductory lesson; looking at the most basic methods of Divination. Nothing advanced," said Ernie in his usual pompous manner.

"Well I think it'll be a lot of rubbish personally," snorted Zacharias. "I've got Arithmancy first thing."  
"Why'd they let an idiot like you into Arithmancy?" sneered Bakura, Zacharias glaring back. To say the two boys didn't get along was an understatement; Zacharias was the kind of guy with his head up his arse and always placed himself above everyone else; he and Bakura clashed constantly and he was one of the people who got the worst torture in Bakura's favourite dream, being only behind Snape.

"So what do you lot think of Lupin?" asked Hannah. "I mean, he doesn't look like he could cope very well; I mean look how thin he is."  
"I think he'll be just fine," said Ryou. "Last night on the train, when the Dementors came in, he was the one who made it go away. He seems to know his stuff."  
"Really? How did he get rid of it?" asked Wayne excitedly.

"Well, he said some kind of spell and something silver shot out of his wand and drove it away," explained Ryou. "I don't really know exactly what it was he did."  
"Oh it'll be a Patronus. It's a very difficult spell, but very effective," said Ernie. "Very advanced magic; if Lupin can produce that powerful a Patronus, I do believe he will be the best teacher we've had for that subject yet." There was a slight awe from them, all except Zacharias who merely shrugged, looked as though he could do better (as per usual) and departed from the hall, his plate wiping itself clean.

Finishing their own breakfast, Bakura and Ryou left as well, waving to their friends who were still eating and were quickly caught up with by the rest of their friends.  
"Hermione's time table is messed up; she has _three_ lessons at once," said Ron incredulously.

"It's the same with Seto!" said Marik. "Three subjects all at the same time!"  
"Three lessons? How are you going to be in three lessons at once?" exclaimed Ryou.

"Like we told this lot, we worked it out with Professor McGonagall," said Seto, slightly irritated. After a while they had just given up and started towards Divination. "It's in North Tower apparently."  
"I know where to go," said Kate. "Marik and I went up there last year after Adio was petrified. Professor Trelawney is the teacher, we had a conversation with her."  
"What's she like?" asked Yugi, as they followed Kate.

"Well she was nice enough; a bit strange and at first came off as an old fraud... But she went all weird and started saying strange things, and then didn't seem to remember saying them." Yami's brow furrowed; sounded like a strange woman indeed. "You see when we get there."  
"Isn't it this way?" said Hermione.

"Nah, that's South, you can see the lake from here," said Ron. "Just follow Kate; she knows where she's going." They continued to climb the tower when a shout captured their attention.  
"What villains are these that they trespass upon my private lands? Come to scorn at my fall have you? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!" They looked around and realised the shouting was coming from one of the portraits; it was of a fat, dapple-grey pony and a rather short knight, and judging from the grass stains on his knees, he had indeed fallen over.

"Draw what?" snorted Bakura. "Some stilts so you can actually get _onto _the pony?" The others laughed, infuriating the short man in the painting; he brandished his sword violently, though overbalanced, sending the tip of the blade into the ground.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry, approaching the portrait as the knight began to try to pull the sword out of the ground; it was rather comical to watch as he tried and failed and ended up flopping onto the grass, red faced.

"Well, we need to get going," said Yami. "We need to get to North Tower-"  
"Ah, a quest! Sir Cadogan at your service!" He said, leaping to his feet. "Come, follow me! Let us meet our goal or perish bravely!" He clambered onto the fat pony, and attempted to urge it forwards. It refused to move anywhere and Kate and Hermione began giggling as the pony simply threw Sir Cadogan to the ground and continued grazing. "On foot it is, good men and gentle ladies; on! On!" He set off at a run and they began to follow him.  
"Doesn't someone want to tell him that we already know the way?" panted Harry, as they continued up the dizzying staircase that spiralled on and on.

"Yeah, and tell me when did Kate and Hermione become 'gentle ladies'?" huffed Bakura. Kate snorted and elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Thanks for proving my point!" The sound of murmuring above, told them they had arrived.  
"Farewell my comrades in arms! If you ever have need of steely resolve and brave heart, call upon Sir Cadogan!"  
"Yeah we'll call you," called Ron, before quietly adding: "If we ever need someone mental." They proceeded upwards and came to find the class huddled around; Hannah and Ernie waved at them as they walked over; suddenly Ryou jumped.  
"I forgot my book!" He said and quickly disappeared back down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Bakura shook his head; sometimes his little hikari was so forgetful.

"Good to see you all. I trust your summers were well?" asked Ernie.  
"Good enough," said Harry, avoiding to mention the Aunt Marge incident. "And yours?"  
"Very good thank you."  
"So where's the classroom?" muttered Marik, looking around.

"Up there," replied Kate, pointing up to a trap door in the ceiling. The plaque read: _Professor Trelawney, Divination_ Kate stepped forwards, just as Ron said: "How do we get up there?" A silver step ladder descended as the trap door swung open, and Kate climbed first. The rest of the class slowly followed her up into the oddest classroom they had ever seen. It looked like a cross between a tea-shop and someone's living room. There were at least twenty small circular tables with chintz arm chairs and small, overstuffed pouffes; lamps hung from the ceiling, draped in red scarves and a fire roared in the hearth, and there was a heavily perfumed scent in the air.

"So where is she?" mumbled Harry.

"Hello dears; it is nice to see many of you in the physical world at last." They spun around and saw the thin Professor Trelawney; Bakura recognised her, as did Kate and Marik as they had met her the previous year. "And it is nice to see some familiar faces among your number." She looked at the three of them with her overly magnified eyes and delicately rearranged her shawls. "Sit my children, sit." They awkwardly climbed into arm chairs or sank onto pouffes; Kate, Bakura and Marik around once table; saving a space for Ryou when he arrived; Yami, Yugi and Seto around another and Harry, Ron and Hermione around a third. Trelawney seated herself in a winged arm chair in front of the fireplace and observed them for several minutes, when Ryou burst into the room, red faced, panting and clutching his book.  
"Sorry... I'm late... Professor..."

"Dear, did I not inform you last year you would be late? I would have thought you would have thought ahead," she said. "No matter, I awaited for your return so you would not miss the introduction for Divination. I shall speak with you after class." Embarrassed, Ryou nodded and took his seat, dropping his bag onto the floor. Everyone returned their attention to the front of the room as Trelawney began speaking again: "Welcome to Divination; I am Professor Trelawney. Many of you have never met me before and I am aware of this; I find that descending into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds the Inner Eye; so you have all chosen to study Divination. It is the most difficult of the magical arts, as only those who possess the gift of the Inner Eye may do well here. Books will only take you so far." Bakura shot a glance at Hermione; she looked horrified at the thought that books would be of little help in the subject. He then turned to Kate who, surprisingly was listening very carefully. Perhaps whatever occurred last year was enough to convince her, and apparently Marik, that she was the real thing. "You!" She suddenly said sharply, causing everyone to start; she was pointing at Yugi. "Is your Grandfather quite well?"

"Well, I think so," Yugi replied nervously.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," she said. Yugi gulped as she went on: "This year, we shall be covering the basics of Divination; this term shall be devoted to reading tea leaves, then we shall continue onto palmistry; by the way dear," she aimed at Parvati Patil. "Beware a red-haired man." Startled, Parvati threw a glance at Ron and edged away from him. Bakura looked at Kate again, but she was still listening, as if she actually believed what this woman was saying. "In the summer term we shall begin Crystal Ball Gazing- that is if we are finished with Fire Omens; in February, classes shall be disrupted by a nasty bout of flu, I shall lose my voice and in Easter, three of our number shall leave us forever." There was a tense silence following the proclamation. "Dear," she singled out Lavender Brown this time, who paled slightly. "Could you pass me the largest silver teapot?" Lavender let out a sigh of relief and took the teapot from the shelf and passed it to Trelawney. "Oh and the thing you dread most will happen on Friday, October 16th." Lavender trembled and sat back down. Trelawney gave the instructions and, after taking teacups from the shelves (Neville breaking one) and having them filled by Trelawney, they set to work. Over at Harry's table, Harry and Ron opened up their books and Trelawney walked over. "What do you see, dear?" She asked Ron.

"Well... Harry's got sort of a wonky cross; and that means trials and suffering; but that there could be the sun and that means happiness." Ron furrowed his brow. "So you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it."  
"I think his Inner Eye needs testing," Yami whispered to Bakura, who had to stifle his laughter.

"Give me the cup," said Trelawney; Ron handed it over and she peered inside before gasping and dropping it back onto the table; she was pale. "My dear... My boy..."  
"What is it professor?" asked Kate.

"You have... The Grim..." Some people looked confused, whilst many others looked absolutely horrified.  
"The Grin? What's the Grin?" asked Seamus.

"Not the Grin you idiot, the Grim!" Kate snapped. "It takes the form of a giant spectral dog, said to haunt graveyards. It's one of the darkest omens in our world; it's an omen of death." There was silence and Yugi peered into the cup.  
"It doesn't look like a dog much; more like a horse."

"Nah, maybe a sheep?" said Dean, peering inside. Many of the class clustered around, exchanging remarks until Harry, fed up, said: "If you're all done trying to work out if I'm going to die or not!" Suddenly, no one wanted to look at him.

"That will do for today my dears; pack away your things," said Trelawney and everyone did as they were told. She was so distracted; she didn't call Ryou back as they filed down the ladder to their next class.

To Be Continued...


	5. Talons and Tea Leaves Part 2

They were seated in Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall was teaching them about Animagi (wizards and witches who could turn into animals at will), though even when she turned into a cat, no one was watching; they were still distracted by what Trelawney had said in Divination.  
"Now really," said McGonagall indignantly, as she turned back with a faint pop. "Not that it matters, but this is the first time that my transformation has gone applauded in this classroom. What has gotten into you all?" Suddenly, they all turned to face Harry, though no one spoke a word.

"Professor," said Kate. "We just had our first Divination class, and we were reading tea leaves-"  
"Ah, say no more Miss Utashabi. Now, which of you is going to die this year?" They stared at her, stunned when Harry raised his hand. "I see; well I think you'll find that Sybil Trelawney has predicted the death of one student every year, and so far not one of them has died; seeing death omens is her favourite way to greet a new class.If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues-"She stopped herself and cleared her throat. "Divination is among one of the most imprecise branches of magic; True Seers are very rare and Professor Trelawney-"She caught herself again and continued in a very matter-of-fact tone. "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I do not let you off homework today; however I assure you, that if you die you shall not need to hand it in." There was a small laugh through the room and suddenly the mood lightened considerably. It was much harder to be scared of a lump of tea leaves after hearing Professor McGonagall of all people make a small joke about it. However some of them still looked worried; Ron and Kate still seemed to be eyeing him warily as though he could drop dead any second, and Lavender whispered: "What about Ryou being late?"

They joined the thundering crowds heading to the Great Hall for lunch, and they split up for their separate tables.

"C'mon you two, cheer up. You both heard what McGonagall said," said Yugi, started on some shepherd's pie.

"Harry, you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?" asked Kate, leaning in so no one else overheard.

"Yeah, the night I left the Dursleys," he replied casually, and both Kate and Ron did a double take.

"Probably a stray," Hermione interjected calmly. Ron stared at her incredulously.

"Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim then that's- that's bad! My uncle Bilius saw one and he died twenty-four hours later!" Ron exclaimed, looking worried.

"Coincidence," Yami said shortly, earning a glare.

"Look, you don't get it; most wizards are terrified of the Grim," explained Kate. "You wouldn't get it."  
"What's not to get? They see the Grim and die of fright; it's the cause of death, not an omen," Hermione snapped and pulled out her Arithmancy book and opened it up. Kate glared, and for the first time in two years, they sat at odds with one another; the last time they were they certainly weren't friends. It had been first year and they greatly annoyed one another; after becoming close friends and supporting one another for the better part of two years it was unusual to see them in such a way.

"You just can't stand being rubbish at something for a change," Kate grumbled quietly; but not quietly enough. She had touched a nerve. Hermione snapped her book shut again and stood up.  
"Well if being good at Divination means having to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying for much longer! That was absolute rubbish compared to mine and Seto's Arithmancy class!" Stuffing the book into her bag she stalked off out of the hall, clearly towards the library.

"What Arithmancy class? She hasn't had one yet," said Ron.

After lunch, they headed down the school lawns to their, and Hagrid's, first Care of Magical Creatures class. Kate and Hermione were fuming and refusing to speak to one another; Kate was plotting something against Nikki Harris, a Slytherin girl who struck up a fierce rivalry with Kate; not too different from Harry and Malfoy's relationship, although they took it a step further, as teenage girls tended to do. Hermione and Seto were talking about their Arithmancy class, though no one was sure how they even attended as they had both been in either Divination or History of Magic. They spotted the already huddled class around the hut and hurried over; there was a mix of students from all of the houses, though the year group had been split up and some of the others had either Defence Against the Dark Arts or Potions. They stood at the front of the class, when finally Hagrid appeared from the edge of the forest.  
"Alrigh', is everyone 'ere? Good; quiet down you lot," he waved over to a group of Ravenclaws. "I got a real treat for yer today; a real good lesson. C'mon, follow me," he said, and began to lead them away, the students following behind.  
"So Hagrid, when exactly did you become a professor?" asked Ryou curiously.

"O'er the summer after Professor Kettleburn quit; Professor Dumbledore comes to me and asks me ter teach the subject," he explained, puffing out his chest proudly. "Great' man Dumbledore; great man." As they walked, it looked for a terrifying second as though they were entering the Forbidden Forest, before Hagrid turned and walked along the tree line, everyone jogging to keep up. Finally they came to a paddock under the canopy, the sunlight dappled over the leaf bed. "Alrigh' open yer books to page-"  
"How are we supposed to do that?" snapped a voice; it was Nikki Harris, alongside Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy, who was, as per usual, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. She and her fellow Slytherins lifted their books, bound shut with belts.

"Just stroke the spine o' course; goodness me," he muttered, walking away. The class pulled out their own books and stroked the spines; the books stopped attempting to bite and lay still.

"I think they're funny," said Kate, as they lay their bags down on the ground.

"Oh yeah Shabby; real witty giving us a biting book," said Nikki loudly. "God this place is goin' to the dogs; why do we bother comin' here? I mean, I understand you losers _like_ that oaf!"

"Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore's got him teaching classes-"

"'Wait until my father hears-' Last time I checked Malfoy, your dad isn't a governor anymore, so shut your fat mouth," snapped Bakura. It was true; after the events of the previous year, it had come to light that Dumbledore's temporary suspension was only agreed to because Mr Malfoy have blackmailed the other governors with threats or cursing their families; following an investigation into the matter, Lucius Malfoy was stripped of his title and replaced as a school governor; now his son, Draco no longer trotted around like he owned the place and looked rather moody some of the time. Malfoy glared at the Tomb Robber, grey eyes narrowing, before seemingly spotting something behind him; he lost his glare and it gave way to fear.  
"Dementor, Dementor!" He shouted in fear, pointing wildly. Everyone turned, only to look into the empty air, to the loud, obnoxious laughter of the Slytherins. Bakura turned back and glared even more dangerously, the tips of his fingers glowing a dangerous violet.

"Oooooh," they taunted, covering their heads with their cloaks. Before Bakura could make a move, Yami stepped forwards, took the Tomb Robber by the arm and pulled him away, pulling a face at the Slytherins.

"Ignore them," he muttered.  
"Why? If you hadn't of interfered they'd be in the Shadow Realm by now, and that'd make all of us _very_ happy!" he snarled, though submitted when he noticed the stern look on Yami's face and they made their way back to their friends.  
"Ahem." They looked around and saw Hagrid returning, several chains in hand, and at the end of each one were some of the most bizarre creatures they had ever seen. They had the hindquarters of horses, yet the front end was that of giant eagles, with huge orange eyes, scaly legs, sleek feathers and long legs with shiny talons on each toe. "Hippogriffs," he said proudly, as he walked over, and the class backed away from the fence slightly. "Aren't they beau'iful?" When you got over the initial shock of seeing something half bird, half horse, Bakura could see what Hagrid meant; the way feather made way for hair and the way their colour gleamed in the dappled sun; stormy grey, inky black, a gleaming chestnut and a roan. "Now, if you want to come a little closer-"  
The thing was, not many of them wanted to; however Harry and his friends walked over to the fence cautiously, driven by a slight curiosity. "Now the one thing you need to remember is that Hippogriffs are very proud creatures; _never_ offend a hippogriff, it may be the last thing you ever do," he warned.  
"Sounds like someone I know," Marik joked, earning a slap over the head from Yami.

"Now what you do is when you approach a hippogriff is that you bow and you wait; if he bows back you can touch him; if not then you back away sharpish, because those talons can do a lot of damage." There was a nervous gulp, though when Seto looked around, he noticed not one of the Slytherins was listening.

'Probably planning how to disrupt the lesson,' he thought, before turning back to the paddock.

"Right – who wants to say hello first?" Everyone looked on, until Bakura finally stepped forwards, and climbed over the fence.

"Well done Bakura, well done."  
"You Tomb Robber? What do you know about respect?" wondered Ron jokingly.  
"Keep that up and you're asking for a trip to the Shadow Realm, ginge." Bakura dropped from the fence, winked roguishly and walked over to Hagrid.  
"Alright, let's try yer with Buckbeak," he said, un-tethering the grey hippogriff and leading it away from the others, who all kept an eye on Bakura. "Now, make yer bow. Nice and low now, but try to keep eye contact." Doing as he was told, Bakura bent into a bow, and someone in the background wolf whistled. Trying not to snap at the culprit, he kept his eyes locked with the Hippogriff's whilst maintaining his bow. Buckbeak stared at him.  
"Alright, back off-"Suddenly, the beast's scaly knees sank into what was unmistakeably a bow. "Well done Bakura, well done." There was a small round of applause, and a look of disappointment on the looks of the Slytherins faces. "Right, you can go pet him now." Keeping his eyes locked with Buckbeak's, Bakura edged forwards, hand outstretched before gently touching Buckbeak's beak, and caressed the hippogriff, who clearly enjoyed the attention. "I reckon you can ride him now."  
"What?!" Bakura said, looking around at Hagrid; suddenly he found himself hoisted onto the hippogriff's back unceremoniously, despite his arguing.

"Don't pull out any of his feathers now, because he won't thank you for that." And with a huge flap of his wings, Buckbeak took off, carrying Bakura with him. There was a shout and he was off; the Tomb Keeper holding onto Buckbeak around the neck for dear life, as the Hippogriff swooped towards the castle. Opening his eyes, Bakura looked around; students in the windows were pointing and applauding, and when he spotted a Transfiguration class he gave a wave and several younger girls swooned, whilst the rest of the class returned the wave. They hairpin swerved around one of the towers and took off over the lake, and Bakura peered into the water and saw his reflection. He spread his arms, and whooped, as they glided over the glassy surface; his face threatening to split with a grin. The freedom he felt was incomparable and suddenly, he was back home in Egypt, his mother and father watching on as he and his siblings played in the sand, shouting and laughing... Before it was all snatched away from him... Suddenly there was a jolt, and Bakura realised they were descending down into the paddock and quickly wiped his face of any emotions related to Kul Elna.

"Well done Bakura; and well done Buckbeak," cheered Hagrid as they landed, and there was a rousing applause from the students, all except, once again the Slytherins. Bakura hopped down and patted Buckbeak's neck when Hagrid lent in.

"How'm I doin' for me first day?" he whispered.

"Brilliant... Professor," Bakura added, flattening his wild mane of hair. Hagrid beamed, before straightening up and sending the tomb robber back to the rest of the class. With new confidence, the rest of the class climbed into the paddock, and in small groups took a hippogriff and took turns bowing, whilst Bakura, having had his turn, watched, perched on the fence. Kate, Ryou, Neville and Seamus had taken the black Hippogriff, a female named Ain, and whilst Kate had already had her bow returned, Neville couldn't seem to earn a bow back. Ryou took his turn and after a tense minute, Ain bowed back and allowed Ryou to stroke her gossamer coat; meanwhile the Slytherins had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed for Malfoy and the latter was now stroking him distastefully.

"This was so easy; I'm not surprised that that mudblood could manage it," he drawled. "You're not dangerous at all, are you? You big, ugly brute-"  
There was a slash of talons and a high pitched scream. Blood blossomed through Malfoy's robes and Buckbeak was rearing over him to finish the job. Hagrid seized the hippogriff and wrestled him back into his collar; Pansy and Nikki were screeching obscenities; the former trying to comfort a sobbing Draco and pulled her robe off to staunch the blood flow in his arm. Hagrid quickly collared the other hippogriffs and strode over to Malfoy, lifting him to take him to the hospital wing.

"Class dismissed!" He shouted sharply, carrying a sobbing Malfoy away.

To Be Continued...

Flying scene was taken from the film, because it was one thing that was better than in the books (not many of those kinds of moments folks!) because in the books he only flies over the paddock; in the film he flies around the castle and that seemed to be more open and interesting and really gave Bakura a feeling of freedom. ^^


	6. The Boggart

It was late on Thursday afternoon, mid-Potions when Draco reappeared, his arm bandaged and in a sling; Nikki Harris had escorted him down to the dungeons, and she threw a scornful look at Kate and glared right back. She led Draco over to his fellow Slytherins where Pansy Parkinson immediately started fussing over him.

"Does it hurt terribly Draco?" She simpered, pushing a loose blonde lock behind his ear. He put on a brave grimace, as if he were a survivor of some sort of horrific battle.

"I should count myself lucky; if it weren't for Madam Pomfrey I could've lost my arm; couldn't possibly do any homework for weeks."

"Listen to him," snarled Ron. "He's really laying it on thick."

"Detention Mutou," said Snape, and they turned to see him looming over Yami.

"But sir-!"  
"I will not tolerate any attempts of aggression towards another student; 5 points from Gryffindor." Yami cursed quietly and turned back to his desk. Kate darted over once Snape's back was turned; she and Hermione had pretty much forgotten their little spat from Monday.

"He heard Malfoy and was about to go over there and punch his lights out, but Snape spotted him. Quite a shame."

"Retake your seat Utashabi; 5 points from Gryffindor!"

"Oh, come off it!" She hurried back to her desk and continued adding ingredients to her cauldron, whilst Yugi was trying to cheer up Yami, who would undoubtedly by dreading detention that evening. Out of all of them, Yami had had more detentions with the Potions Master than you could count on a hand and he hated each and every one of them. When the bell rang, they cleared out of the dungeon and headed for lunch.

"Now I bet he'll have me pickling dragon livers," Yami groaned.

"Personally, if you hate them so much, you should stop getting into trouble with Snape, mate," remarked Ron, earning a cold glare. "What it's true." Yugi looked around.  
"Uh guys, where's Hermione?" She was nowhere to be seen. "She was right behind us though." Suddenly, right then, Hermione came running up the stairs, stuffing something down the front of her robes.

"Where were you? You were right behind us a minute ago," said Harry.

"Oh I forgot something, c'mon let's go I'm starving." She swept off without another word and her fellow Gryffindors stared after her.

"Why do I have the feeling she's hiding something from us?" remarked Ron.

When they turned up to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Lupin wasn't there; everyone pulled out their books, quills and parchment and waited. Lupin arrived only seconds later, as shabby as ever but healthier looking.

"If you would pack your things away, you will only need your wands; today will be a practical lesson." There was a murmur of excitement, and everyone slid their things back into their bags and withdrew their wands. Bakura threw a look towards Yami, which was one that read simply: 'What do you reckon?' Yami shrugged. The only lesson they could count as a practical D.A.D.A lesson was the memorable episode in which Lockhart had let loose over a dozen pixies into the classroom, where they caused havoc.

"Right," said Lupin, once everyone was prepared. "If you'll follow me." Puzzled, but excited, they filed out after Lupin and followed him down the empty corridors. As they walked, Bakura appeared at Yami's elbow.

"What are the chances that this will be a decent lesson?" He hissed. "Because Marik and Seto had him yesterday, and they told me he was better than Lockhart and Quirrel put together."

"Wouldn't most teachers be though?" Bakura shrugged.

"It looked like he was pretty happy with his lesson; let's hope it's a good one." They suddenly stopped; Peeves was floating in midair, stuffing chewing gum into a door's key hole. He looked up, spotted Lupin and the students and began singing: "Loony, loopy Lupin! Loony, loopy Lupin! Loony, loopy Lupin-"As rude and unmanageable as Peeves was, he usually showed a degree of respect to the professors of the school. They looked to Lupin, who to general surprise, was still smiling.

"I'd take that gum out of the lock if I were you Peeves; Mr Filch won't be able to get to his brooms." Filch was the school's grouchy, bad tempered, squib caretaker and waged constant warfare with the students, but most of all Peeves, the resident Poltergeist. In reply, Peeves merely blew a loud raspberry, causing Lupin to sigh and draw his own wand. "This is a useful little spell," he said to the students. "_Waddiwassi_!" With the force of a bullet, the wad of gum shot out of the key hole and up Peeves nostril, who, after getting over his shock, zoomed away cursing.

"Wicked sir!" said Bakura, with a wild grin.  
"Thank you Bakura. Now let's be on our way." They followed on, now with a heightened level of respect for Lupin.

They came to the staff room; in the centre of the room was a tall wardrobe, and Professors Snape and McGonagall sat in chairs on opposite sides of the room. The class filed in, though as Lupin made to close the door, Snape stood.

"Don't close it Lupin; I have no desire to see the disastrous consequences this lesson shall see." He swept to the door and paused. "Just to warn you, Neville Longbottom is in this class. Do not entrust him with anything but the simplest of spells; unless Miss Granger is whispering instructions in his ear." Neville and Hermione both blushed slightly and Kate looked itching to have a go at Snape.

"I am sure Neville will do just fine Severus; in fact I was hoping he might assist me, a feat I am sure he will perform most admirably." Neville turned an even darker shade of red. Snape smirked and swept out, slamming the door as he did so. Professor McGonagall had her lips pursed, and her eyes had narrowed on Snape and turned back to Lupin.

"I hope you do not mind if I remain to watch, Professor?"  
"Of course not Professor." Suddenly the wardrobe gave a loud bang and everyone jumped. "No need for panic; there's a Boggart in there." Most people, mostly those from wizarding families, seemed to think this _was_ something to worry about; Neville gave Lupin a look of pure terror, whilst Ron's eyes kept darting nervously to the rattling handle, as though continually checking it remained closed. However, the apprehension also spread to those from muggle-families; Dean was just as nervous and even Yugi seemed a little fidgety. "Now, who can tell me what a Boggart looks like?" Hermione opened her mouth to answer, when she was cut off.  
"No one knows," answered Kate. "Boggarts are shape-shifters; they take the form of what a person fears most, that's what makes them so terrifying."  
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor." Kate couldn't suppress a grin; it was a rare day where anyone beat Hermione to the punch on an answer.

"Now, we have a huge advantage over this Boggart here; Harry could you tell me why?"

"Uh..." Hermione's hand shot into the air, hoping Lupin would turn to her if Harry couldn't answer, and her hand waving in the air was off putting. "Because there's so many of us... it won't know what shape to take?"  
"Precisely, another ten points to Gryffindor." Was it just Bakura, or was Professor McGonagall concealing a look of pride? "If you ever confront a Boggart, it is best to be accompanied by at least one other person, it confuses them; two friends of mine once confronted a Boggart and in an effort to try to scare both of them, it turned itself into half a slug and half an eyeball. Not particularly terrifying.

Now, the charm to finish a Boggart is simple, but requires force of mind; you need laughter. You must turn it into a shape that truly amuses you. Now, we shall practice the incantation first; without wands. _Riddikulus_!"  
"_Riddikulus_!" The class chanted back.

"Good, very good; however that was the easy part, unfortunately. Neville, please come here." Neville looked around for help, and Kate nudged him forwards. He edged out, and Lupin smiled warmly. "Now Neville, what frightens you most of all in the world?"  
"P-professor Snape," he muttered, and the class giggled; McGonagall could barely suppress the small grin on her pointed features. Even Neville grinned apologetically.

"Yes, scares us all. And I believe you live with your grandmother?"  
"Yes, but I don't want that Boggart to turn into her either!"

"It won't. Now here's what I want you to do." He leant down and whispered something to Neville's ear; Neville looked at him incredulously. "Go on." Neville stepped forwards, and everyone stepped backwards. "Wand at the ready Neville, and focus. One, two, three." The door swung open, and from the wardrobe, Severus Snape emerged, as intimidating as ever.

"R-Riddikulus!" There was a bang and suddenly, Snape was forced out of his usual black robes and was now garbed in a long green dress, a moth-eaten witch's hat with a vulture perched on top, a fox scarf and a big red handbag. There was a roar of laughter and people were doubling over in delight; the once intimidating and dignified Potions Master was now in the clothes of Neville's grandmother! Even McGonagall was giggling behind her hand.

"Well done Neville, well done indeed! Now everyone line up; think of what truly terrifies you and turn it into something comical." Bakura snorted; he wasn't afraid of anything... But then something wriggled in the back of his mind. One memory and he shuddered. He glanced around and spotted Harry; he was the only one who noticed, and Bakura was sure Harry would tell no one. Soon everyone was pushing one another into a line, with Ron at the front. Snape glared at Ron and began to twist and change, until a giant hairy spider took his place.

"_Riddikulus_!" Ron shouted, and suddenly roller skates appeared on the spider's feet and it started slipping and sliding all over the place. Though not as funny as Snape, everyone laughed anyway. Kate stepped forwards next, and for a minute the spider stared at her, before it started transforming. It was a towering creature, with long tendrils and no face.

"_Riddikulus_!" She shouted, and suddenly the creature's tendrils suddenly knotted together, and it tried pulling the knots apart and suddenly tripped over; there was more laughter, as it tried to stand again. "Take that Slendy!" She shouted, before moving to the back of the line. Seamus stepped forwards; a banshee appeared. He shouted and her rasping cry broke and she clutched her throat; her voice was gone. There was a mummy, who stepped on a loose bandage and it unravelled itself; the bandages turned into the *Wicked Avatar, which suddenly turned into a toilet; the toilet turned into a huge snake which turned into a huge jack-in-the-box; the jack-in-the-box turned into a rat which chased its own tail which then turned into a bloody eye ball.  
"It's getting confused; we're getting there!" Lupin shouted. Bakura stepped forwards, when suddenly that awful memory returned. There was screaming, and the bloody eye ball turned into a horribly mutated figure, with melted skin which dragged itself forwards and members of the class gasped and screamed. Lupin stepped in and the figure turned into a silvery orb suspended in the air. With an almost lazy flick of his wand, the Boggart turned into a cockroach. "Neville!"

The cockroach turned into Snape, and they caught one last sight of him in that dress, before Neville shouted: "Ha!" It exploded into silver dust at Neville's feet and there was a round of applause.

"Excellent; truly excellent! Well done, all of you, well done! Now, five points to everyone who tackled the Boggart, and ten points to Neville who did it twice; now please return to the classroom and gather your things. That's the end of the lesson."  
"Well I must say Professor, you certainly have more talent than our previous teachers," praised McGonagall.

"Thank you Minerva, that means a lot to me."

As they walked they chatted avidly about the lesson, only Yugi, Yami and Kate really noticed how sullen Bakura looked.

"What was that thing anyway?" Kate asked. Bakura looked at her, and what she saw in his eyes shocked her; there was immense sadness and a loss of innocence in them.

"You'd have to know the story to understand. Besides, what was the thing you took on anyway?" remarked Yami, covering for the tomb robber.

"Slender Man; muggles think he's a myth, but he's real enough. He drove my uncle mad and... He took my little cousin away..."

"Oh... I'm sorry," said Yugi. Kate shook her head.

"It's alright... Besides, I guess I kind of felt I took a shot back at him back in the lesson; Lupin's definitely the best!"

"He is a very good teacher; I wish I got a shot at that Boggart though," said Hermione.

"What would it be?" sniggered Ron. "A piece of homework that only got a 9 out of 10?"

To Be Continued...

Woo for Slendy cameos! And poor Kura, he needs a great big hug after than!

Melvin: OKAY!  
Me: FROM ANYONE BUT YOU!

Melvin: Am I allowed to hug no one?  
Me: Go find some suicide patient and hug them; I'm sure they'll appreciate it. ._.


	7. Flight of the Fat Lady Part 1

It didn't take long for Defence Against the Dark Arts to become almost everyone's favourite lesson; in fact only Malfoy and his Slytherin gang had anything bad to say about Lupin.

"I mean look at his robes," he drawled. "They look like something our old house elf would wear."

"And what, does he think he looks bad-ass with that scar on his face?" sneered Nikki, throwing a taunting look at Kate as she passed by. But no one else cared about Lupin's robes being tattered and frayed, and there was mass speculation about the scar on his face.

"I heard he got it fighting a banshee," said Seamus eagerly.  
"Why is it always Banshees with you?" said Bakura as they filed into the room for their next lesson. It proved to be just as exciting as the first; they were studying Red Caps, little gremlins that lurked in burrows in areas of bloodshed, like battle fields, such as the Naseby Battlefield, and waited to bludgeon lost travellers. They then moved onto Kappas; a Japanese demon that resembled a scaly monkey that would strangle waders in their ponds, pull pranks, kidnap children or even rape women.

They all wished that all of their other lessons were as enjoyable; Harry hated Potions almost as much as Yami did and it seemed that Snape was more vindictive than ever; no doubt the Boggart was the cause. The story of the Boggart in the clothing of Neville's grandmother had spread through the school like wildfire and at the merest mention of Professor Lupin; Snape would flash a menacing look at whoever mentioned him and was bullying Neville worse than ever. Divination proved just as unbearable; in that stifling room with Professor Trelawney looking as though on the verge of tears whenever she looked at Harry made her unlikeable. Marik, Kate and Ron seemed to be the only ones who took her seriously in the group of ten; in fact most of the class treated her with a great deal of respect and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown now took to haunting her tower at lunch times, returning with smug, superior looks on their faces as though they knew something that no one else did. Whenever they spoke to Harry, they acted as though he was on his deathbed and it was greatly annoying him.

Another let down was, unfortunately, Care of Magical Creatures; Hagrid had lost his confidence after the accident from the first action-packed lesson. They now spent hour after hour caring for Flobberworms, which Bakura declared was the dullest creature in all of existence. However, in October, for Harry and Kate the best thing possible approached to make up for their less than satisfactory lessons; Quidditch, and in the general opinion of most, the best sport in the world. Quidditch was played in the air on broomsticks, with two teams of seven. Three members were called Chasers, and it was their job to score through the one of the oppositions three hoops using a football-sized ball called the Quaffle; any hoop was worth ten points. Gryffindors Chasers were Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Kate. The three hoops were defended by the team's Keeper; Gryffindor's was Oliver Wood, who was also the somewhat obsessed Team Captain. Then there were the two beaters who had to defend their team mates and attempt to attack the other team with the two Bludgers; identical black balls that would zoom around trying to knock players off of their brooms. Fred and George Weasley were the Gryffindor Team's beaters, and were often described as a couple of Bludgers themselves. Then there was the Seeker, which was Harry's job. The Seeker had to catch the fourth and smallest ball, the Snitch, which was incredibly fast and even harder to see; the game was only over when the Snitch was caught and the Seeker who caught it would gain his team an extra one-hundred and fifty points, so that team usually won. The team sat huddled in the changing rooms, in their Quidditch robes of red and gold; Oliver was pacing back and forth and he seemed depressed. He was a burly seventeen-year old in his final year of Hogwarts.

"This is our last chance – _my_ last chance," he corrected himself. "To win the Quidditch Cup; I leave at the end of this year and I'll never get another shot at it." He stopped, for a brief moment before continuing. "Gryffindor haven't won in Seven Years; we've had the worst luck in the world. Injuries, the tournament being cancelled last year... But we've got the _best _– _ruddy _– _team _– _in _– _the _– _school_!" he growled, punching one fist into his palm, that maniacal glint in his eye. "We have three _superb_ Chasers!" He pointed at Alicia, Angelina and Kate in turn. "Two _unbeatable_ Beaters!"  
"Stop Wood, you're making us blush," said Fred and George, hiding their faces jokingly. Wood ignored them.

"And a Seeker who has _never failed to win us a match_!" he declared. "And me," he added as an afterthought.  
"We think you're very good Wood," said Angelina.

"Cracking Keeper," said Kate and Fred. "Jinx!"

"Alright save it! My point is, that the Quidditch Cup should've had our name on it by now; ever since Harry joined I thought we'd had it in the bag. But we haven't got it and this is the last chance to see our name on it..." He looked so dejected that even Fred and George looked sympathetic.

"This year's our year!" declared Fred and George, jumping to their feet.

"We'll get our name on it or die trying," joked Kate.

"Let's do this!" said Alicia.

"We can do it, Oliver," said Angelina.

"Definitely," finished Harry. Wood looked at his team, on their feet, fired up and determined, and there was glint of pride in his eyes.

From then on, three evenings a week, they trained whatever the weather. Sessions got windier and wetter, but there was a fire lit in them that nothing and no one could extinguished. Kate was improving spectacularly with every session; she had always been lagging behind her fellow chasers, but became more and more skilled and performed excellently. It seemed nothing could tarnish the team's visions of the silver cup with their name on it.

One evening, Harry and Kate returned to the common room, cold and stiff, but thoroughly pleased with the session and the team's performance. They settled down with their friends by the fire to warm up and finish homework. The room was buzzing with excitement.

"What's going on?" asked Harry, pulling his star chart towards him.

"First Hogsmeade trip this weekend," said Ron, pointing at the new notice on the notice board on the other side of the room. "End of October at Halloween." Suddenly, Harry felt his heart sink.

"Should be good; apparently Bakura can't go though. He got in trouble over the summer and Ryou's parents have decided to only send in a signed form after Christmas," said Kate. "Apparently he figured he could nick it, but they haven't even signed it yet so he's stuck with not going until after New Years."

"To be honest, I'm not surprised. What'd he do?" asked Yugi.

"Dunno; apparently involved some kids called Rex and Weevil," replied Kate, and she, Ron, Harry and Hermione were confused when both Yugi and Yami burst out laughing.

"They're a couple of kids where we live and whatever Bakura did, they probably deserved," explained Yami. "If anything, he would deserve to go!" Hermione pursed her lips disapprovingly, before looking at Harry.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked. Harry sighed.  
"I can't go; the Dursley's didn't sign my form," he confessed.

"What? Not go Hogsmeade?!" exclaimed Ron. "There's gotta be something you can do-"  
"Ron, Harry's supposed to be staying the castle anyway; Black-"  
"Black's not about to try anything in Hogsmeade," Kate snorted. "Too crowded and besides there's the Dementors he's trying to avoid."  
"She's right; ask McGonagall Harry," encouraged Ron. "Besides, the next one might not be for ages!"  
"Ron, Harry's not meant to wonder off!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yeah... I think I will ask McGonagall," murmured Harry. Hermione looked appalled, when Crookshanks trotted over, Mana darting past the older cat and clambered into Yugi's lap; some first years girls nearby awed at the little kitten who began climbing all over Yugi, exploring avidly. Crookshanks had a large spider dangling from his mouth, and he leapt into Hermione's lap and began chewing it slowly, eyes fixed on Ron.

"Does he have to eat that in front of us?" questioned Ron disgustedly.

"Clever Crookshanks; did you catch that all by yourself?" cooed Hermione, scratching the cat behind his ears.

"All I'm saying is keep him over there; I've got Scabbers sleeping in my bag." He turned back to his star chart to label his last few stars; Harry yawned, he wanted to go to sleep but needed to finish his own. "Here, you can copy mine," said Ron, labelling the last star and shoving it over before stretching his arms out. Hermione threw them a glare, as she disapproved of copying, but said nothing. Crookshanks still stared, fixated in Ron, bushy tail flicking back and forth. Then, without warning, he pounced, claws sinking into Ron's rucksack.

"GET OFF YOU STUPID ANIMAL!" Ron roared, trying to pull the bag away, Crookshanks holding on whilst spitting and slashing. Mana, thinking this all looked like great fun, jumped down and skittered around the scene excitedly.

"Don't hurt him!" squealed Hermione, as Yami tried to pull Crookshanks from the bag, only to get a furious swipe. The whole common room was watching the scene; it must of looked comical to see Ron whirling the bag around, Crookshanks still hissing and spitting, and out of the top flew Scabbers, who immediately darted away; Crookshanks leapt after the terrified rat.

"CATCH THAT CAT!"

George lunged, but missed; Yugi scooped up Mana and put her in his own bag and assisted in the attempt to catch Scabbers. The rat skidded through twenty pairs of legs and under a chest of drawers, Crookshanks coming to a halt and pawing underneath, trying to reach the rat. Hermione seized Crookshanks around the middle and hauled him away, whilst Ron threw himself onto his stomach and reached for Scabbers; Yugi and Yami sat on either side of the chest of drawers to prevent Scabbers escaping again. Ron dragged the almost skeletal rat out by his tail with some difficulty and dangled him in front of Hermione.

"Look at him, he's skin and bones! You keep that bloody cat away from Scabbers Hermione!"

"He doesn't understand it's wrong, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "All cats chase rats."  
"Actually all cats chase mice; only some chase rats," remarked Kate, who earned a glare.

"There's something funny about that animal," Ron accused, ignoring the giggling people as he tried to put the wriggling Scabbers back into his bag. "It heard me say Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Actually Ron, it's more likely he smelt Scabbers," pointed out Kate. "I think Hermione has a point; Crookshanks is just acting like a cat-"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers! Scabbers was here first _and _he's ill!" Ron marched off towards the boy's dormitory, not looking back. Kate just sighed and returned to their table with her friends and, for a moment, the sight of Mana playing with a quill alleviated them of their exasperation.

To Be Continued...


	8. Flight of the Fat Lady Part 2

The following day, Ron was still in a bad mood with both Hermione and Kate, mostly because Hermione didn't seem to appreciate Scabbers needed peace to recover, and Kate for siding with Hermione. The three of them were sharing a Puffapod in Herbology, and Hermione asked timidly: "How's Scabbers?" as they stripped the fat, pink pods from the plant.

"He's at the bottom of my bed, shaking!" he snarled, missing the pail they were placing the pods in and scattering them over the greenhouse floor.

"Careful Weasley," cried Professor Sprout, as the pods burst into vivid bloom. At the plant next to them, Yami, Yugi and Harry shook their heads as Ron snapped at Kate for making a smart-assed remark and they began to bicker.

"And I thought Ron and Hermione were bad," sighed Harry.

"I'm sure they'll get over it soon," assured Yugi. "I think Hermione does need to try and keep Crookshanks in check though, especially with Scabbers around," he added in a whisper. Nodding in agreement, they continued to work on their Puffapod.

The next lesson they had was Transfiguration, and Harry resolved to ask McGonagall if he could go to Hogsmeade after the class was over; however when they arrived there was a disturbance. There was a huddle, in the middle of which was Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, the former was crying with Parvati's comforting arm around her shoulders, whilst Parvati explained what had happened to Seamus and Dean, who both looked quite serious.

"What's wrong Lavender?" asked Kate gently; as much as she and the other two girls clashed, she did know when to be kind.

"She got a letter home this morning," whispered Parvati. "Her rabbit, Binky, was killed by a fox."

"Oh Lavender, I'm sorry," said Yugi gently, patting her arm.

"I should have known," she sobbed tragically. "Do you know what day it is?"

"...The sixteenth of October," muttered Kate.

"Yes! 'The thing you are dreading will happen on the sixteenth of October!' She was right!" Lavender sobbed, burying her face in her hands.

"You were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?" asked Hermione hesitantly.

"Well, not by a _fox_ necessarily, but I was obviously dreading it, wasn't I?"  
"Was Binky an old rabbit?" They looked around and saw Seto and Marik at the edge of the group. They clearly had been passing by and heard what had happened; though Marik looked more sympathetic.

"N-no, he was o-only a b-baby," Lavender cried dramatically.

"But why would you be dreading him dying then," said Hermione. Parvati glared at her. "Look at it logically," she said, turning to the group. "I mean, Binky didn't even die today; Lavender only got the news today; and she couldn't have been dreading it because it came as a real shock-"  
"Don't mind Hermione Lavender, she doesn't think anyone else's pets matter very much," Ron cut over loudly. McGonagall opened the door at the perfect moment, as Ron and Hermione were glaring daggers at one another.

"Kaiba, Ishtar get to your class," she said sternly. The two boys bowed and continued on their way to History of Magic; it wasn't like Professor Binns would know if they were there or not. Harry was still unsure of _what _he was going to say to McGonagall, but when the bell rang for lunch, she stopped them. "One moment; as your Head of House you shall hand in your Hogsmeade forms to me: no form, no visiting the village."  
"Go on," hissed Ron. "Ask now."  
"But Ron-"started Hermione.  
"Go on Harry; you might as well try it." Nodding, Harry waited until the class filed out before approaching McGonagall's desk.

"What is it Potter?" she asked sharply.

"Well Professor, my aunt and uncle forgot to, uh, sign my form. So I was wondering if I could go to Hogsmeade anyway?"  
"Potter you heard me; no form, no visiting the village."  
"But Professor, they're muggles and they don't really understand these things, so if you said-"  
"But I don't say; the form must be signed by either a parent or guardian and since I am neither it would be inappropriate." She eyed him with what might be pity. "I'm sorry Potter, but that's my final word." She hurried them out of the room to lunch, and Harry felt miserable as they sat at the lunch table, whilst everyone else (except Bakura who also looked quite miserable) chattered about what they were going to do in Hogsmeade.

"There's always the Halloween feast," said Ryou to the tomb robber, who was merely playing with his food.

"Yeah," he grumbled. Yeah, the Halloween feast was always brilliant, but Bakura would feel better if he knew he was coming back from Hogsmeade.

"Well Bakura, if you'd like we can always try and bring you something from the village," said Hannah. "And your parents are letting you go after Christmas right? You can go then." Bakura grunted and just pushed his food around his plate.

On Halloween morning, his mood didn't improve. He felt very glum as his friends made their way to the Entrance Hall.  
"We'll try and get you guys some sweets from Honeydukes," said Hermione, looking very sorry for them.

"And I'll see what I can get from Zonko's; Fred and George promised to show me the good stuff," said Kate. The twins grinned.

"We swear we'll bring her back in one piece. Weasley's honour," they did a funny salute, and finally they all disappeared. Bakura scowled; if Rex and Weevil hadn't tried that stupid stunt he'd be off to Hogsmeade too and checking out Zonko's and Honeydukes. But at least Harry was around, so neither one of them were the only Third Years left behind. They wandered through the halls, unsure of what to do or where to go.

"Harry, Bakura?" They looked around and saw Lupin was looking out of his door at them. "What are you doing? Where are the others?" By the others, he meant Ron, Hermione, Yugi, Yami, Seto, Marik and Ryou.

"Hogsmeade," they replied in unison.

"Ah, I see. Come and see, I've just taken a delivery of Grindylow."  
"A what?" said Bakura, and they followed Lupin into what could only be his office. In the corner stood a large water tank, and inside was a devilish looking little creature; it was a sickly-green with horns, long, bony fingers and its face was pressed against the glass whilst pulling faces at them.

"Water demon," murmured Lupin. "But after the Kappas, it shouldn't be too difficult to deal with; the trick is to break the grip. Those fingers are strong, but very brittle." He seated himself behind his desk and invited Harry and Bakura to sit. "Tea?"

"Sure, why not?" He picked up a kettle and with a tap of his wand, it suddenly shot steam out of its spout, with a high pitched whistle, whilst Lupin removed the lid from a dusty pot.

"I've only tea bags, I'm afraid, though I'm sure that you've had enough of tea leaves?"  
"But, how did you-?" started Harry.

"Professor McGonagall told me," Lupin replied, he said giving the boys a mug of tea each. "You're not worried are you?"

"No," said Harry, but then suddenly debated over whether or not to tell Lupin about the large, black dog he had seen on Wisteria Walk, the night he ran away; he decided not to. Lupin looked over at Bakura.

"Something bothering you Bakura?"

"No," he replied shortly, and took another sip of tea, before pausing. "Yes," he said suddenly, and he placed the cup on the desk. "Why didn't you let me face the Boggart?"  
"I believed it would be obvious. You see Bakura, the staff are aware of your past, and any teacher would believe it would have taken the form of Zorc Necrophades, after his possession of you."

"I did think of Zorc... At first," he admitted, biting his lip. "But then I thought back to that day... The day the Millennium Items were created..."  
"Ah yes, the slaughter in Kul Elna; a terrible thing to happen, especially to one so young," Lupin said sadly. Harry just looked confused; he had no clue what they were talking about. Bakura sighed; he knew that he needed to explain.

"You see Harry, when I was a child in Ancient Egypt, the kingdom was being threatened with war. The Pharaoh wanted peace, but saw that his kingdom would be destroyed if he did not act; the Lord of the Shadow Realm, Zorc Necrophades, manipulated the Pharaoh's brother, Ahknadin, into deciphering a spell book, known as the Millennium Tomb. He deciphered the spell to create the seven Millennium Items; the Puzzle, the Ring, the Rod, the Necklace, the Key, the Scales and the Eye. Myself, Yami and Marik are in possession of three of them; the Puzzle, Ring and Rod. The Eye is in the care of Maximillion Pegasus, the Necklace is cared for by Marik's sister, Ishizu, whilst the Key and Scales are watched over by the guardian of the items, Shadi.

These items were created to repel the armies seeking to destroy Egypt; however there was only one was to create them: the bodies and souls of one hundred people were needed. So Ahknadin took soldiers to the village of Kul Elna... My home. He brainwashed the soldiers so they wouldn't remember the terrible acts they were about to commit; the village was torched and the people were murdered for 'the Greater Good.' I was the _only_ survivor." Harry sat there, trying to take this all in. "The Pharaoh died some year later, and no one but myself and Ahknadin knew the truth; Kul Elna was in the outskirts of Egypt, so not many people knew of it; the village was lost in the sands to be hidden for eternity.

However, I still wanted revenge; I went after the new Pharaoh... Yami. He was known by another name at the time, but he has long forgotten it and I myself cannot recall it. We battled fiercely, until we were both sealed away within the Puzzle and Ring and lay dormant for centuries; when we were released five thousand years later our battle continued. We despised one another Harry. However when my goal was near completion and Zorc appeared before he cast me aside; I was no longer of use to him. He revealed his plot; I realised the Pharaoh was not to blame at all. Zorc had used me, as he had used Ahknadin, to do his dirty work. My rage was unmatched; I swore to make him pay and, for the first time in centuries, the Pharaoh and I became allies. We destroyed Zorc together, and we finally called a truce between ourselves. We had no intention of becoming friends, but eventually we found we had some things in common and our friendship finally began about six months before we received our letters. The history of the Millennium Items is dark and bloody, but it is important we remember they were created for the cause of good." Harry could barely process this all in his mind; it was overwhelming. He knew they were ancient spirits and Yami and Bakura weren't friends initially, but to know that Bakura was out to _kill_ Yami until a few years ago was unsettling. They sat in tense silence, before Lupin turned to Harry.

"And what about you Harry? What did you imagine your Boggart would be? I did have the idea of Voldemort but I'd like to hear your own thoughts."

"I did think of Voldemort... At first," said Harry quietly. "But then I thought to that night on the train, with the Dementor."

"I see," mused Lupin. "So what that suggests to me that what you fear most of all is fear itself; this is most wise. So I assume that you believe I thought you were incapable of fighting a Boggart, Bakura?"  
"Well, yes," he answered, feeling a little happier. Then something came to mind. "Professor, you know the Dementors-?" He was cut off by a knock on the door.

"Come in." To their surprise it was Snape, carrying a slightly, smoking goblet. "Ah thank you Severus." Snape jerked his head and set it down on the desk. "I was just showing Harry and Bakura my Grindylow."

"Fascinating," said Snape, not even looking at it or at the two boys who were glaring daggers at him. "You should take that directly Lupin; I also have a whole cauldron of it, if you need more.

"I should probably take some again tomorrow then," replied Lupin. "Thank you Severus."  
"Not at all," said Snape, though something in his eyes unsettled them. He departed, unsmiling, as per usual.

"I am feeling a little off colour lately," explained Lupin. "Thankfully Severus is very adept at making this potion; it is highly complex and not many are up to making it." He took a sip, and Bakura felt an overwhelming urge to knock it out of his hands. "Now boys, I have some work to finish up. I shall see you at the feast later," he said, draining the rest of the goblet, and pulling a face. "Disgusting."

"Right," they said, leaving the room. The empty goblet still smoking.

"There, we got as much as we could carry," said Ron, as a rainbow of sweets cascaded onto the table. Harry and Bakura spent the rest of the day hanging around and eventually ended up in the library discussing various things, when their friends turned up, pink faced and looking as though they had had the time of their lives. Bakura and Kate were going through a series of bizarre contraptions from Zonko's, all of which looked dangerous; Yami regretted letting her bring them to the castle, let alone giving some to the tomb robber.

"So what's Hogsmeade like?" asked Harry. "Where'd you go?"

By the sounds of it; everywhere; Honeydukes was the local sweetshop, the Three Broomsticks was a pub in the village with all sorts of patrons ("We think we even saw an ogre."), the post office, the Shrieking Shack which was the most haunted building in Britain and various other shops.

"So what did you two get up to?" asked Ryou, biting into a liquorice wand.

"We had tea in Lupin's office," said Harry, and they told them about the potion Snape had given Lupin.

"And Lupin _drank_ it?!" exclaimed Yami. "Is he mad?"  
"Well if Snape _was_ trying to poison Lupin, he wouldn't have done it when Harry was there," pointed out Seto. "Besides, the feast will be starting soon; we've got to go." Though not entirely reassured, any thoughts of Snape were pushed from their minds by the excellent food at the feast. Yugi was finally nearly back to a healthy weight, so he didn't eat as much as usual but still managed more than Ron. The decorations for Halloween were only rivalled by those for Christmas; with live bats hanging from torch brackets, jack-o-lanterns suspended in the air and flaming, orange streamers fluttering lazily around like live snakes. Harry glanced up at Lupin, who looked perfectly cheerful and was talking-animatedly with Professor Flitwick. But was it just him, or were Snape's eyes flickering over to him more often than was natural? The feast concluded with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts Ghosts; even Moaning Myrtle was there, the ghost of a girl who was killed by a Basilisk in the girl's bathroom, which was now her home. They popped out of tables and walls to do a spot of formation gliding and Nearly Headless Nick's re-enactment of his own botched beheading was met with great enthusiasm.

It was such a brilliant evening that not even the shout of: "The Dementors send their love Potter!" from Malfoy could spoil Harry's good mood. Bidding their friends goodnight, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Kate, Yugi and Yami took their usual route to Gryffindor Tower, only to find the staircase jammed.

"Oh come on, she can't be singing again," groaned Yami. However, they couldn't hear anyone complaining or even the Fat Lady singing like she always did.

"Neville must've forgotten the password again," mumbled Ron.

"Hey!" They looked around and saw Neville, looking rather offended, stood behind them.

"Oh there you are," said Ron, rather surprised.

"Wait, if Neville didn't forget the password, and she's not holding everyone up with singing, then why is no one going in?" wondered Kate. Yugi was just as concerned.

/_This can't be good Yami. Something's happened, I can feel it_/

/_Perhaps, but we can't be sure of that yet_/

However, Ginny pushed through the crowd towards them.

"It's the Fat Lady, she's gone!" she exclaimed. Yami immediately pushed ahead and the others followed his lead. They froze when they saw it; the canvas the Fat Lady usually resided in was slashed, strips of it lay on the ground and she was gone.

"Move aside." It was Percy, followed by Dumbledore, Filch and McGonagall. They stepped aside, and allowed the Head Master through to examine the portrait.

"Mr Filch, gather the ghosts and have them search for the Fat Lady," he ordered quietly.  
"Won't do no good Head Master sir!" They looked up and saw Peeves hovering above them, with a wicked smile. "She doesn't want to be found sir," he said in an oily voice. "She's a horrible mess; saw her running through the trees on the fourth floor, crying something dreadful your Headship sir."  
"Did she say who did it?" asked Dumbledore.

"Oh yes," said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. "Was very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see; nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

To Be Continued...


	9. Change in Plans

Dumbledore sent the Gryffindors back down to the Great Hall, and they were followed ten minutes later by the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Naturally Seto, Marik, Ryou and Bakura made a beeline for their friends.

"What's going on?" asked Ryou.

"All we've heard is that Sirius Black was in the castle and that they're searching for him," said Marik.

"It's true; he attacked the Fat Lady when she wouldn't let him into Gryffindor Tower," replied Yugi. "No one knows where he is... Or where the Fat Lady is for that matter."

"Your attention please." They all looked around and saw Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall. "The castle is being searched for Sirius Black; you are to remain in this hall for your own safety. Prefects, you are to stand by the entrances to this hall and the Head Girl and Boy are to be left in charge. If there is a disturbance, report to me," he added, looking to Percy, who puffed up with pride. "Send one of the ghosts." He turned before he seemed to remember something. "Oh yes, you will be needing these." He flicked his wand and the tables and benches stacked against the sides of the hall and were replaced with hundreds of plush sleeping bags. "Sleep well." He left the hall, the doors closing behind him. The minute he was gone, the hall broke into chatter as the Gryffindors told everyone what had happened. There were questions flying all over the place, and Percy said loudly: "Alright, everyone into your sleeping bags! No more talking, lights out in ten minutes!"

"C'mon," muttered Ron; they each grabbed a sleeping bag and dragged them into a far corner of the hall.

"Do you really think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Well Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," replied Yami, settling down into his sleeping bag, propped up on his elbows. "Still, lucky he picked tonight; it's the one night we weren't in the tower."

"He must've lost track of time," said Bakura. "Being on the run, he's forgotten its Halloween, otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."  
"What, with hundreds of students and a whole staff full of pretty powerful witches and wizards?" snorted Seto. "If he'd have known it was Halloween, he would've broken in another night."

"Yeah, but what if tonight was the one night he could manage it? I mean, none of us have tried sneaking out yet; we don't know if the teachers and ghosts are patrolling the school at night. What if, because it's Halloween, he knew that everyone would be up late for dinner so saw it as a chance to sneak in? And what if he was going to stake out in the tower and get to Harry when he came up to bed?" suggested Kate; Hermione shuddered at the thought. Yugi bit his lip.

/It sounds like a good theory; but I've got a feeling he could try it again/ he thought.

/Yes; I have a feeling that Black will try it again and he will manage to get in next time/ Yami replied.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy announced. "No more talking; everyone go to sleep!" The candles all went out at once; the only light left was the light from the ghosts who glided around, and talked to the prefects, and of course the light from the enchanted ceiling, which was clear and scattered with stars. That and the whispering gave Harry the feeling he was sleeping out under the stars.

Telling what time it was became quite easy; a teacher would come into the hall once every hour to check up on everything. Percy prowled among the sleeping bags, stopping people from talking and checking people were sleeping. It was about three o'clock, and most of the students were fast asleep... Except for Harry. It was also at that time, Dumbledore returned; Harry pretended to be asleep as his footsteps neared.

"Any sign of him, professor?" Percy whispered.

"No. All well here?"  
"Everything under control here, sir."

"Good; I see no point in moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor Common Room. You can move them back in tomorrow."  
"What about the Fat Lady?" Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw Prefect, Head Girl and Percy's girlfriend asked quietly.

"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor," Dumbledore replied promptly. "Apparently she refused to let Black in and he attacked; she's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down I'll have Mr Filch restore her." The door to the hall opened again, and by opening his eyes a fraction of an inch, Harry could see it was Snape.

"Headmaster, we've searched the third floor, the dungeons, towers and the Owlery, but Black is nowhere to be found," he said curtly.

"Well I didn't really expect him to linger." Percy and Penelope walked away to keep an eye on the students; it seemed Fred and George too, had been trying to listen in.

"Quite a feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts Castle, undetected on one's own." said Snape.

"Quite remarkable indeed, Severus."

"I recall, at the start of term, I questioned your appointment of-"  
"Not a single person in the castle would help Sirius Black to enter it," Dumbledore cut over sharply. "Now, I must go to the Dementors and inform them our search is complete."

"Did they not want to help?"

"Oh yes, but not a single Dementor shall enter these grounds as long as I am Headmaster." He exited the room, and Snape looked slightly resentful, before sweeping away. Harry turned on his side, and saw each and every single one of his friends had been listening raptly.

"What was that all about?" mouthed Ron.

The days that followed were filled with wild theories over how Black managed to get into the castle; Hannah Abbot spent time telling anyone who would listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub whilst Dean Thomas was speculating he could've used a secret tunnel. Meanwhile, the Fat Lady's portrait had been taken down and was replaced with Sir Cadogan's. To say this irritated the Gryffindors was an understatement; he spent half of his time challenging people to duels, and the other half making up ridiculous passwords that he changed twice a day.

"He's as mental as they come," muttered Ron. "Can't we get someone else?"

"He was the only one brave enough; the others are frightened by what Black did to the Fat Lady," replied Hermione. Needless to say, Bakura found it amusing enough; he often taunted Yami by calling him a scurvy dog and telling him to draw. So he thoroughly deserved it when, in History of Magic, Yami drew a rather rude image on Bakura's face whilst the Tomb Robber was sleeping. Harry on the other hand found himself being followed everywhere; teachers found excuses to walk with him down corridors and Percy (acting no doubt on his mother's orders) trailed after him everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog. Personally, Harry would find life less tiresome if people just left him alone; about a week after Black's initial break-in, he was summoned to McGonagall's office.

"Potter, there's no use hiding it anymore. Sirius Black-"  
"Is after me, I know. I heard Ron's parents talking about it; Mr Weasley works at the Ministry," Harry cut over wearily. McGonagall to say the least was shocked.

"Well Potter," she said after a moment or two. "I think you will understand then, that I think it is best you don't train for Quidditch in the evenings. It's too exposed, and with just your teammates-"  
"Professor, we've got our first match on Saturday," Harry half shouted, jumping to his feet. "I've _got_ to train!" He held his breath; he knew McGonagall cared about the Gryffindor Team's prospects, after all, she was the one who placed him as team Seeker, rather than punishing him.

"Very well Potter; however I would feel better if you had a teacher present... I'll ask Madam Hooch to supervise your training session."

Conditions for flying were becoming steadily wetter and windier than ever before, and at the start of one training session, Oliver came stomping into the changing rooms.

"We're not playing against Slytherin, we're playing Hufflepuff instead!" They all looked up at him. "They're insisting they can't play because their Seeker is still injured."

"But Malfoy's faking it," Kate moaned. "There's nothing wrong with his arm!"

"Well we can't prove it," Wood said miserably.

"What's the big deal Wood?" asked Fred. "It's just Hufflepuff; Harry caught the Snitch in five minutes in our last match against them, remember?"

"I was afraid you'd take it like this," Wood said darkly. "Look, Cedric Diggory's the new team captain and-"He was cut off by the girls giggling in the corner. "What?"  
"Cedric Diggory? He's the tall one isn't he?" remarked Angelina.

"Silent," added Kate.

"And good looking," Alicia finished.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," grumbled George.

"Alright, quiet. Diggory's put together a strong side, and this whole time we've been practicing with strategies under the impression we were playing Slytherin. Hufflepuff have _very_ different strategies; we need to take them seriously!"

"Okay Wood; we'll be taking Hufflepuff seriously. _Very seriously_," George said slyly.

The day following practice under the watchful eye of Madam Hooch, Harry found Oliver running up to him and Kate between lessons, giving them both pointers on the Hufflepuff team, and pointing out their players. To their surprise, they found Bakura was joining the team as a Beater, and he made no promises about not aiming a bludger at them. Harry felt a little apprehensive about Diggory now; normally Seekers were light and speedy, but Diggory was quite tall and burly; if the weather was anything like it had been recently tomorrow, his weight would give him an advantage. However, the third time Wood stopped them, they realised they were ten minutes late for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and took off down the corridors, with Wood shouting after them. They burst into the room.

"Sorry we're later Professor Lupin-"They stopped; it wasn't Lupin at the front of the classroom. It was Snape.

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, Utashabi. Ten points from Gryffindor... Each. Now sit down." Kate did as she was told, scowling at Snape, but Harry remained standing.

"Where's Professor Lupin?"

"Professor Lupin has found he is incapable of teaching at the present time, as he has fallen ill. Now sit down and turn to page 394." Harry moved over to sit next to Ron, and pulled out his book.

"Werewolves?" Yami muttered.

"But sir," said Hermione. "We've only just finished Red Caps and Hinky Punks; we aren't due to start nocturnal beasts for weeks."

"Quiet," Snape commanded, the room darkening, as he tapped a projector which began showing drawings of werewolves on the screen. "Now tell me, what is the difference between a werewolf and an Animagus?" Almost out of reflex, Hermione's hand shot into the air first, though Snape ignored it. "Nobody? How disappointing?" Yami growled; he hated nobody more than Snape.

"Please sir; an Animagus is a wizard or witch who _elects_ to turn into an animal, a werewolf has no choice. When they transform, they have no memory of anyone; they'd kill their best friend if they crossed their path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind," Hermione replied expertly.

"Awooo!" Malfoy mocked, gaining snickers from his fellow Slytherins.

"Thank you, Mr Malfoy; that is the second time you've spoken out of turn in my class Miss Granger; can you truly not control yourself, or do you take pride in being an _insufferable_ know-it-all?" Snape hissed. "Another ten points from Gryffindor?"  
"You're taking points off of her for giving the right answer?" said Yami. "Why ask if you don't want to know?" Immediately, everyone knew Yami overstepped his bounds... Again. Snape leaned over the desk, his cold black eyes locking onto Yami's fiery violet ones.

"That's detention Mutou," he said softly. "Or has detention with me become so enjoyable you try and get one as often as possible?" Yami glared in return. He didn't reply, and Snape, with a cruel smile, walked away. "And if you ever criticise the way I teach again Mutou, I will see to it you will spend _every_ Saturday in detention with me for the rest of the year." Yami paled considerably at the thought; he hated detention with Snape, yet he managed to get them at least once a week and he always came back looking a bit ill. The thought of them every Saturday for a year was hardly pleasant. They sat in silence, copying notes from the text book on werewolves, whilst Snape went through the work they had been doing with Lupin, loudly criticising it as he went.

"Dear, dear, the Kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia; Lupin gave this an eight out of ten? I wouldn't give it a three." When the bell finally rang, Snape held them back for a minute. "On my desk for Monday, two rolls of parchment on the werewolf, with particular reference of _recognising_ it!" He looked like he couldn't care less as the class groaned. "Mutou, stay behind. We need to arrange your detention." Yami gulped, he didn't like the look on Snape's face.

When Harry, Ron, Hermione, Kate and Yugi stepped out of the room, they broke into a furious tirade about Snape.

"He's _never_ been like this with any of the other professors; not even Lockfart. What's Lupin done?" Kate hissed furiously.

"Maybe it was the Boggart?" suggested Harry. Yugi shrugged, before saying: "Let's just hope that Lupin gets well soon." Yami emerged from the room.

"So, what are you pickling this time?"  
"I'm not pickling anything," he said grimly. "I have to scrub bedpans in the Hospital Wing... _Without_ magic! It'll be a nightmare!"

"Well mate, it's not like you're pickling dragon livers or rat's brains again," Ron said, in a poor attempt to cheer him up.

"Don't remind me, I'd like to keep my breakfast thank you," Yami grumbled.

To Be Continued...

Sorry this took a while, but I've been a bit busy lately. Going to the Leavesdon Harry Potter Studio Tours in London in September and I'm really looking forward to it!


	10. Grim Defeat

Bakura stomped into the Great Hall for breakfast that morning; it was way too early to be up. He spotted Harry alone at the Gryffindor table, and walked over.

"Ready for the match today?" He asked casually, snatching up a slice of toast. Harry nodded. "You alright? You look awful."  
"Peeves." Short and to the point; today was the match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, and Bakura was a new team beater. Most new players were nervous before their first match, but Bakura felt quite the opposite; he was calm and confident as he had been through much worse than a mere Quidditch match. If anything concerned him, it was the gale force winds and lightning, but in terms of Quidditch it would never be enough to cancel a match. Eventually, other students began making their way in for breakfast and Bakura headed to the Hufflepuff table, where he sat with his friends. Harry saw Cedric walk over to him and the conversation started; most likely over the match. Marik, Seto and Ryou ran over to wish them luck, though Ryou was (naturally) supporting Hufflepuff. From what they could see, it seemed the Slytherins had started a betting pool over the results of the match and it seemed all of the Slytherins were betting on Hufflepuff, though no one else got involved. Ron, Hermione, Yugi and Yami arrived shortly after the rest of the team had shown up.

"It's going to be a tough one," Wood said sombrely, not touching any of the food on his plate.

"Stop your worrying Oliver," said Angelina. "We don't mind a bit of rain."

But it was so much more than a bit of rain; Quidditch was so popular the whole school turned up, though the crowd was literally battling their way through the storm, umbrellas being nearly wrenched from grip and heads bowed against the wind. As they entered the changing rooms, Harry and Bakura spotted Malfoy laughing.

"I swear, if he keeps it up, he might find a bludger coming his way," growled the tomb robber, and he and his team disappeared to their changing room, to change and go over their game plan, like Wood did with the Gryffindors. Wood tried to start his usual pep-talk, but whenever he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Eventually he just gave up and shook his head. At this point Kate just hopped up and said loudly: "Beat Hufflepuff. That is all." When the time came for the game to start, they staggered sideways onto the pitch; the wind seemed to only grow stronger and fiercer. If the crowd above was cheering, they were being drowned out by the rolling thunder and crashing lightning. Wood and Diggory shook hands, and though Cedric smiled at him, Oliver looked as though he had jaw lock and just nodded. Harry mentally groaned; he could barely see through his rain splattered glasses. How was he supposed to see two feet in front of him, let alone catch the Snitch? There was a shrill, yet distant blast of the whistle from Madam Hooch, and they were off; Harry spotted Bakura bolt off, club in hand. He suddenly felt a deep desire to avoid Bakura all together; friends though they may be, that would stop the bludger from causing serious damage.

Barely five minutes had passed, and Harry was soaked to the bone, barely able to see and felt frozen to his broom. The red and yellow blurs were indistinguishable as team mates or opponents; twice he was nearly unseated by a bludger and the second time he swore he heard Bakura shout 'sorry.' His vision was so clouded by the rain; he nearly flew into someone and still couldn't see who it was. The crowd below was hidden beneath their sea of umbrellas, cloaks and raincoats and the commentary provided by Lee Jordan was drowned out by the wind. It was almost like night had came early, with the sky darkening dramatically all the time, and soon he lost track of time. More time passed when he suddenly heard the sharp blast of Madam Hooch's whistle, and he managed to make out the form of Oliver Wood beckoning him down from the ground. Harry zoomed down and joined the team huddled under a large umbrella.

"How are we doing?" Fred asked, shuddering from the cold.

"We're fifty points up, but we'll be playing into night at this rate," Alicia replied.

"I can't see a thing with these," Harry moaned, waving his glasses in the air, his vision blurring worse than before. Suddenly, a hand snatched them away, and Harry turned and saw the tall form of Seto standing in front of him.

"I had an idea; _impervius_!" He tapped the glasses with his wand, and handed them back to Harry. "They'll repel the water now." For a disturbing moment, Wood looked like he could _kiss_ Seto.

"_Brilliant_!" He shouted hoarsely, as he disappeared back into the stands. "Okay team, let's go!"Wood gave the sign to Madam Hooch to resume play, and they remounted their brooms and took off as the whistle sounded. Harry was still freezing and wetter than he'd ever been in his life, but he could see. With a fresh, burning determination, Harry took off through the battering wind, staring intently around for the snitch. Dodging a bludger, swerving around Bakura, ducking under Diggory, Harry pelted around in his search, when he spotted it. A huge, shaggy dog sat in the stands; he felt his hands slip on the broom handle and he fell a few feet. He pushed his fringe off of his face and looked back in the stands. The dog was gone, when the Snitch flew into his face. He made to snatch it, yet it darted away. He spotted Diggory zooming upwards, and Harry kicked his broom into the skies. He and Diggory were neck and neck, the Snitch feet away. Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot at Cedric, forcing him to swerve away, giving Harry a lead. It was there, in reach when suddenly the world fell silent, as though Harry suddenly went deaf. He looked around and noticed the handle of his broom was freezing over, just like that night on the train...

Something large and black swooped by, and Harry felt his heart stop... Until he saw it was an umbrella; he looked back in front of him, to find himself face to face with a Dementor. He felt that repressing cold; that feeling of despair deep in his stomach and his vision began to fade out, and the last thing he heard was a woman screaming.

Hundreds of feet below, Bakura felt his insides turn to ice and looked up. The dark shapes in the clouds were gathering excitedly, and he realised the Dementors had moved into the grounds. Then he spotted it; a small, skinny shape falling out of the sky, and only after a few seconds did he realise Harry was falling out of the sky. He lay flat on his broom and sped towards Harry's limp figure and with incredible luck, caught the younger boy. He spotted the Dementors coming towards him, when something silver broke between them and the Dementors stopped dead in their tracks and zoomed away angrily. Bakura headed for the ground and landed, Harry in his arms and saw students and teachers hurrying over. Cedric landed, Snitch in hand, looking shocked.

"Is he alright? What happened?" He asked.

"Dementors, Cedric," Bakura replied. Ron, Hermione, Yugi, Yami, Kate, Ryou, Marik and Seto appeared, all worried out of their wits.

"They're not meant to come into the grounds though," Cedric pointed out.

"Didn't stop them today," Bakura replied bitterly.

"Where's his broom?" Ron said loudly, trying to be heard over the wind.

"Probably blown away; we'll find it later," Wood shouted. "Get him to the hospital wing for now."

"Wait Wood; I didn't realise Harry fell off of his broom. Let's have a replay, it wasn't fair," Cedric said, when Madam Hooch appeared.

"No Diggory, you won fair and square. We can take a loss." Bakura and the others walked back up to the castle, still battling the wind which wracked their bodies as they went.

Yugi, Yami and Marik went with Fred and George to look for Harry broomstick, searching the grounds. It seemed the storm was finally beginning to blow over and after an hour, they could walk upright against the wind.

"Seen it yet?" shouted Fred.

"Not yet."

/_That's a really bad thing to happen though. Is Wood serious about taking the loss_?/ asked Yugi.

/_Indeed, and it seems he is. As much as he wants to win, Wood knows when it's a fair victory; besides it's not like Cedric _knew_ Harry fell off of his broom_./

"Uh oh." They looked over and saw Marik staring at the Whomping Willow. They didn't know what he saw initially, but then they grimaced.

They returned to the hospital wing and explained what they had found, and Professor Flitwick had to retrieve it. They noticed Wood still wasn't present.

"We think he's trying to drown himself in the showers," said Kate. She and the rest of the team had showered too, though Harry was still unconscious.

"Still he looks a bit peaky," said Ron.

"Peaky?" Neville said incredulously.

"He must've fallen over a hundred feet," said Seto.

"Yeah Ron, let's walk you off of the Astronomy Tower-"

"And see how you look afterwards," George finished for his twin.

"Probably a right sight better than he normally does." They looked down and grinned; Harry was slowly opening his eyes and sitting up. "What happened?"  
"Well you fell off of your broom," said Ryou quietly.

"No really? I mean the match, what happened?" He could tell instantly from the looks on their faces that it wasn't good. "Are we getting a replay? We didn't... Lose?" Hermione bit her lip.

"No one blames you Harry," she said hesitantly. "The Dementors aren't meant to come into the grounds; Dumbledore was furious. He sent them straight off after Bakura saved you." Marik saw the dejected look on Harry's voice and bit his lip too. He wasn't sure how he was going to take this, but it would be anything but good.

"Um, there's something else you should know Harry," he said, picking up a bag from the floor. "When you fell, your broom was blown into the Whomping Willow and... Well you know it doesn't like being hit..." He opened the bag and pulled out the shattered pieces of the Nimbus 2000. Harry just stared blankly, unable to process it.

His broom that went unbeaten until now... Destroyed...

To Be Continued...

That awkward moment when the newest instalment of a fanfic series has the same number of reviews as the previous instalment and it's not even close to finished yet.


	11. Promise to Teach Me

Bakura laughed maniacally as he ran as fast as he could from the dungeons before he was caught; he was thankful that Fred, George and Kate supplied him with the dungbombs and Dr. Filibuster's Fireworks. Right now Snape was probably trying to vanish them in an attempt to prevent anyone from finding out; fat chance. Every piece of news spread like wildfire in Hogwarts. Luckily for Bakura, being the master thief he was, knew about a secret passage way that would lead him straight down to the entrance for Hufflepuff Common Room; he bolted down the passage way, still giddily remembering the brief glimpse of Snape he had seen, covered in the dark muck of the dungbomb and his robes smouldering, his greasy hair askew. Of course his look of fury was enough to make the tomb robber flee for his life (fortunately Snape never actually saw Bakura through the smoke, so he was alright.) He stopped to take a breather half way down the passage and grinned to himself; if recounting this to Harry wouldn't cheer the younger boy up, nothing would. Well except maybe the news that his broom was never really smashed and it was all a cruel joke... Wait that would just make him furious... Perhaps a new broom? Bakura was sure he could get into the Slytherin Common Room and steal Malfoy's; that would really shut up Malfoy and hopefully cheer up Harry.

Madam Pomfrey insisted in keeping him in all weekend after his dramatic fall and Harry made no move to argue; he was still upset over the loss of the Quidditch match and his broom. Bakura was caught a little in between; he was glad his house won, but felt bad for Harry at the same time. He really had softened up too much, but hey, at least he could still cause trouble for people. The tomb robber continued on his way and arrived back at the common room and flung himself into a seat, still grinning. Ryou looked up from his parchment.

"You're in a good mood," he noted.

"Well what can I say? It's not every day you fling a bunch of live fireworks and dungbombs into Snape's office," he replied casually, stretching out like a cat. Ryou's eyes widened and the quill slipped out of his hand.

"You... Did _what_?" Cheekily, Bakura recounted the story with everyone in the common room stopping to listen; when he finished there was uproar of applause, laughter, pats on the back, praise and Ryou was torn between deeply amused to horrified. "If he finds out it was you-"  
"Don't worry, he won't; if anything he'll think Fred and George did it, but since he has no proof there's nothing he can do about it," Bakura assured. Ryou bit his lip (Bakura wasn't sure if he was trying not to laugh or was worried) but shook his head and returned to his homework.

Of course, Harry was still moping in his hospital bed despite the constant stream of visitors he received, all trying to cheer him up with treats and chatting, though it did little to improve. Needless to say Yami was jealous that Bakura was the one to prank Snape, and ordered the tomb robber to let him in on it in future; the story of Snape's 'gift' managed to make the corners of Harry's mouth twitch into a small smile, but that was about it. But to them, it was better than nothing. It was quite natural though, that returning to the usual business of school life on Monday would help take Harry's mind off of things a little bit, though Malfoy wasn't being helpful in the slightest. His bandages had finally come off and he celebrated the full use of both of his arms by re-enacting Harry's dramatic fall; it got to the point where Ron threw a large ox heart at him during Potions, which hit the Slytherin Ring Leader full in the face; whilst it was hilariously funny to them, Snape taking fifty points from Gryffindor and throwing Ron into detention was less so.

"I swear, if Snape's taking Dark Arts again, then I'm off sick! Kate check for me," he snapped. She pushed the door open and peered inside and looked back, beaming.

"It's safe; Lupin's back!"

Indeed he was and he certainly looked like he had been ill; he was pale and his robes seemed to hang off of him more loosely, but he was smiling and seemed well enough to teach and immediately, everyone broke into a tirade about Snape.

"He was only covering; why should he set us homework?"  
"We don't know anything about werewolves-"  
"Two rolls of parchment!" Lupin frowned at them and silenced them.

"Didn't you tell Professor Snape that you hadn't covered werewolves yet?" The babble broke out again.

"We tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen-"

"He said we were really behind-"  
"_TWO ROLLS OF PARCHMENT_!" Lupin waved a hand, silencing them once again, every face indignant.

"I will speak with Professor Snape; you don't have to do the essay." There was a sigh of relief, though Hermione looked disappointed.  
"I've already finished," she murmured and Kate rolled her eyes. The rest of the lesson was far more enjoyable; Lupin had brought along a glass case with a Hinky Punk inside. It had one leg, with a dangling lantern and seemed to be made of wisps of smoke or mist. It would lure people into bogs and strangle them with strong hands and Lupin became the hands down favourite Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher of the school; after Quirrel and Lockhart, Harry wasn't surprised. The bell rang and everyone gathered up their belongings when Lupin called Harry back.  
"I'm sorry to hear about your broomstick," he said as he waved his wand and the class work done for the day tucked themselves away neatly. "Is there no chance of repairing it?"

"No," Harry said bitterly. "The tree smashed it to pieces."  
"The Whomping Willow was planted the year I started attending Hogwarts," Lupin said quietly, obviously reminiscing. "People played a game where they had to try to get close enough to touch the trunk; a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have stood a chance."

"Did you hear about the Dementors?" Harry asked after about a minute. Lupin paused.

"Yes," he said. "I don't think anyone has seen Dumbledore quite that furious. The Dementors have been growing restless – furious over his refusal to allow them on the grounds. Dementors feed off of the emotions of others, Harry; they are starved of any prey here, and the high running emotions of a Quidditch Match was too much for them to resist," Lupin explained. "I suppose they are the reason you fell?" Harry nodded stiffly and they stood there quietly.

"_Why_?" He burst out, unable to contain himself. "Why do they affect me more than the others? Is it because I'm-?"

"Weakness has nothing to do with it," Lupin cut across sharply. "Listen to me Harry; Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth, sucking every positive emotion, every good feeling, every happy memory out of a person until they are left with nothing but their worst experiences. The Dementors affect you worse because you have _true_ horrors in your past; horrors you classmates could barely imagine. You are _not_ weak, Harry," Lupin finished definitively.

"I need to learn how to fight them. You could teach me! You made that Dementor on the train go away," Harry said, sounding almost childish as he did so. Lupin on the other hand looked at him pensively, and then the light shone through the window, illuminating the streaks of grey in his hair and the lines and scar on his young face.

"There was only one Dementor that night Harry; it becomes more difficult if there are more to drive away," Lupin replied.

"But you made it go away," Harry mumbled; Lupin smiled at him, as though looking at a favourite nephew, before clearing his face and suddenly the air settled back into a student-teacher atmosphere.

"Well... It _does_ seem the Dementors have taken a particular interest in you... Perhaps I should teach you; but not until after the holidays, I need to rest. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill."

To Be Continued...

For such a short chapter, I made it seem like a chore . I'm so sorry this took so long, but if you've read my profile you'll understand the stress I'm under right now. I want to be able to update more frequently, but I have Course Work that makes up 25% of my Geography Grade, 3 exams in November and a butt-load of other work to do; I swear I _will_ finish Third Year eventually, even if it kills me!...So If I stop updating, then it probably has killed me and I will apologise in advance!


	12. Hogsmeade

Marik walked down to his usual seat at the Ravenclaw table, sending a grin over to Bakura who responded with a rude hand gesture; it was December and Ravenclaw had just flattened the Hufflepuff team in the last Quidditch match. Seto rolled his eyes at the childishness and merely pulled out his treasured Blue Eyes White Dragon card and ensured they were still in mint-condition. Marik sat down in his seat and began piling food onto his plate when Professor Lupin walked over.

"Good morning Marik," he said kindly.

"Good morning sir," he replied. "Is this about those lessons?"

"Yes it is; I was wondering if Bakura was interested in taking part."  
"Oh yeah, he said he would come too; I think he's keen on it," Marik replied.

"Excellent; well our first session will be the first Thursday after the holidays; can you please tell Harry and Bakura?"  
"Yes sir."

With a smile, Lupin excused himself and Marik turned back to his breakfast. Seto raised an eyebrow with a questioning look on his face. "I already told you; we're learning to fight Dementors. Harry, Bakura and I don't want to end up fainting like Harry did in the Quidditch match; we thought it'd be a good idea." Seto gave a dignified 'hmph' and slid his cards back into his pocket before finishing off his own breakfast.

With two weeks until the end of term, there was definite buzz of Christmas in the air; there was fairies, trees, mistletoe, tinsel and all sorts around the castle, and the grounds outside were coated in a blanket of white; it was a common site to see Hagrid trudging through the snow, going about his duties, like hauling a Christmas tree behind him. In the Gryffindor Common Room, Yugi sat down between Ron and Yami, grinning.

"There's a Hogsmeade Trip coming up; last weekend of term," he said excitedly. Harry felt his heart sink; he and Bakura would be the only third years left behind again, and after these holidays were gone, Ryou's parents were allowing Bakura to go to the village as well. The others broke into grins, on the other hand.

"Excellent; can't wait!" said Ron, clapping his hands together.

"Me neither; we can do all of our Christmas Shopping there; I bet mum and dad would love those Tooth Flossing String Mints from Honeydukes!"

This year, Ron, Hermione, Yugi, Yami and Kate were all staying at Hogwarts for the holidays: Hermione insisted she needed to use the library, Ron said he couldn't stand two weeks with Percy whilst Kate and Yami claimed they, Fred, George and Bakura were all getting together for an all out assault on Snape. Only Yugi and Ryou were straight forward with their reason, and Harry wasn't fooled by the others; they were all trying to keep him company (well, okay maybe Fred, George, Kate, Yami and Bakura really _were_ going to attack Snape) but he appreciated it none the less. Harry's eyes flicked back down to the book in his hands, Which Broomstick, which Wood lent to him (after getting back onto his maniac streak.) He had been riding one of the school's ancient Shooting Stars and it was frustratingly slow and jerky; he _needed_ his own broom.

The Saturday of the Hogsmeade trip rolled around and Harry and Bakura waved as their friends, wrapped in cloaks and scarves, headed off down to the village. The mismatched pair turned around and plodded back into the castle when suddenly they found themselves being dragged into a class room.  
"Oi!" Shouted Harry, struggling to fight their captors.

"Aw, they're struggling, isn't that cute?"

"Fred?! George?!" Bakura spluttered. "What're you doing? I thought you were going to Hogsmeade!"

"We are, but we thought we'd spread a little holiday cheer first," Fred grinned cheekily, pulling something out of his pocket and pushing it into Harry's hand.

"What's this rubbish?" said Harry incredulously; it was a worn piece of blank parchment.

"What's this rubbish, he says," George chuckled.

"This here is the secret to our success."  
"It's a wrench giving it to you but we decided your needs are greater than ours."

"George, if you please." George pulled out his wand and placed the tip to the parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Suddenly, it was like veins began spreading over the parchment; webbing their way. Words blossomed and Bakura peered over Harry's shoulder and read:  
'Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present...'

"The Marauders Map?" he said, looking up at Fred and George.

"We owe them so much," said George admiringly. Harry studied the map, when he came to a sudden realisation.

"Hey, perhaps we should get Harry and Bakura something whilst we're here?" suggested Hermione. They were currently in the middle of the packed sweetshop, Honeydukes; students were bustling past one another, looking at the shelves, paying at the counter, or enjoying purchases. Ryou and Marik had gone to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer whilst Kate and Yami had plans to meet Fred and George in Zonko's Joke Shop; they were planning their Christmas Assault on Snape and apparently needed all of the ammo they could get. Yugi was sure it would end up in a brutal five-part murder on behalf of the Potions Master. Seto was buying a plethora of sweets for Mokuba before he went home tomorrow for the holidays and Hermione, Ron and Yugi were browsing the shelves for sweets to give to Harry and Bakura.

They ended up in a section called 'Unusual Tastes' and the sweets truly were unusual and some were downright disgusting.

"What about these?" said Ron, holding up a jar of ruby coloured lollypops.

"Ew no, those are blood-pops; those are for vampires I expect," said Hermione. He placed the jar back onto its shelf before picking up a second.

"What about these?" He thrust a jar of Cockroach Cluster under her nose.

"Definitely not." Yugi and Hermione jumped a mile and Ron almost dropped the jar, for behind them, grinning from ear to ear was Harry and Bakura.

"What- Harry and Bakura? What are you doing here?" Hermione spluttered.

"Long story," they replied shortly. So they told them; the Marauder's Map was an incredibly detailed map of Hogwarts that showed everyone wherever they were at all times. They ploughed down the street towards the Three Broomsticks, Harry and Bakura under the Invisibility Cloak whilst Ron, Hermione, Yugi and Seto were trying to make sure it didn't look like they were talking to thin air.

"And the only way to wipe it is to tap it and say 'Mischief managed.' It's brilliant; has all of the secret passage ways and everything," Bakura enthused quietly. "By the way Harry, can we borrow it for when we bomb Snape? It'd be a big help."  
"Sure, just get in a dungbomb from me," Harry laughed.

"Those two... They never told me about any Marauder's Map, and I'm their brother," Ron muttered darkly.

"Harry's not going to keep it," Hermione said sharply. "He's going to turn it in to Professor McGonagall."

"Yes, along with his Invisibility Cloak," said Seto, causing all of them to look up at him in surprise. "I'm just saying, it never hurts to keep an eye on your enemies."

"But that's what I'm saying; what if someone else got a hold of it-"

"Oh c'mon Hermione, lighten up. If Seto recommends it, then it's worth hanging onto," said Ron. Hermione pursed her lips disapprovingly.

"You aren't going to report us are you?" asked Bakura. Hermione bit her lip and sighed.

"Well, no-"  
"Great; hey c'mon we haven't been to the Shrieking Shack yet! No point in getting warm if we're just going to freeze again," Ron enthused. Hermione just sighed and trailed after the boys who dashed ahead (minus Seto who was too dignified for that.)

The rickety shack sat on a hill a little distance away; it was surrounded by a barbed fence and the snow was piling high; the wind whistling through the trees sounded like an eerie howl.

"They say it's the most haunted place in Britain," said Yugi. "Back in the village, someone said that a few years ago you could hear screaming and howling. Apparently it's stopped now, but no one goes near it."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a load of rubbish," said Seto.

"Well what have we here?" They all turned around and a deep sense of displeasure arose. Draco Malfoy was swaggering towards them, accompanied by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. "Bit fancy for you Weasel-be; shopping for your new dream home? Don't your family all sleep in one room?"  
"Shut your mouth, Malfoy!" Bakura scowled beneath the Invisibility Cloak and looked down at Harry who nodded. They crept away; thankfully Malfoy was too busy being a smart-ass to notice the tracks in the snow. They came to the hill behind Malfoy and took aim. There was a shout of surprise as the freezing snow smashed into the back of a white-blonde head.

"Who's there?!" Malfoy demanded.

"Bit haunted up here, eh Malfoy?" Ron said casually, as though commenting on the weather. Bakura sent a second snowball flying; Harry sent a third and a fourth. The pair braved diving down; pulling down Crabbe's trousers, tugging Goyle's hat over his eyes and, for a grand finale, seized Malfoy's ankles and began dragging him down the path that lead to the Shrieking Shack.

"Lost your skis Malfoy?" came a laugh. They looked around to see Marik, Ryou, Yami, Kate, Fred and George at the top of the slope that lead back into Hogsmeade. It had been Marik who shouted; the others were all too busy gripping their sides, laughing with glee. Malfoy had no reply; he scrambled to his feet and began running back up the slope.

"Outta my way!" He squealed, pushing past Crabbe, who was still trying to tug up his trousers and Goyle who was fumbling with his hat. He pushed past the others who laughed harder and Crabbe and Goyle followed close behind.

Harry and Bakura emerged from under the cloak, laughing along with the others.

"Blimey Harry... That was great," chuckled Ron, after he finally got himself back under control.

"To be honest, I would have thought you would've been surprised Harry and I got into Hogsmeade," said Bakura, that wolfish grin on his face.

"We would have been," admitted Kate. "If Fred and George hadn't of told us." The twins gave a wry smile.

"And to think, if we hadn't have given you that map, you wouldn't have given Malfoy what for."

To Be Continued

Nice note to leave it on; I am SO sorry for taking so long, and for a chapter that's not even that great. I know some people wanted Bakura to get the Marauder's Map, but it's got some importance to Harry, so he is the owner, but he will lend it to Bakura. And that should be enough


	13. The Truth?

**AN: I'm BACK baby! I AM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG! I lost interest in this for ages, but I promised I'd finish this and finish it I shall. Even if it is by 2020 when the final chapter is finished, but I'd like to avoid that if possible XD So yes, my sincerest apologies for this; I really felt like I was letting you guys down and I hate doing that. So here's chapter 13, just for you J**

The small group strolled up the street, pushing through the bustling street that was packed with Hogwarts students. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen, but in this weather and with so many people, they could be two feet away and escape even Seto's notice. They came to the Three Broom Sticks, the local pub and walked in, quickly found Ryou and Marik at a table in the corner and settled down, pulling off coats, hats and scarves. They expressed surprise at Harry and Bakura's presence, but they were silenced quickly and filled in.

"I'll get us some drinks then," said Ron before hastily excusing himself to the bar a little red faced.

"Madam Rosmerta," Kate whispered, when Harry looked confusedly at his friend who was now ordering from a pretty, curvy woman behind the bar.

"Ron fancies her," Hermione giggled.

"So this map shows every part of Hogwarts and everyone in the castle?" Ryou murmured, looking at it closely.

"That's cool," exclaimed Marik. "I suppose you have every intention to use it against Snape?"

"Yes," was the chorused reply from Yami, Kate and Bakura. Ron returned with a tray of drinks.

"Butterbeer," he said. "Warms you right up." They all took a glass and knocked them together; Harry took a swig and felt the cold numbness in his fingers vanish, replaced with a lovely warmth that sat in his stomach quite happily. They began to chat quite happily, when Ron gasped, and shoved Harry and Bakura's heads under the table, slopping Butterbeer over them.

"HEY-!" Bakura was quieted by a swift kick from Yami.

"It's the Minister for Magic and McGonagall," He hissed. "If they see you, you're both dead!" Shutting his trap, Bakura hunched down next to Harry and noticed that the Christmas tree nearby was hovering an inch or two above the floor and dropped with a slight thud in front of their table, blocking Bakura and Harry from view. Both silently thanked Hermione and then decided to listen in on the conversation.

"Oh won't you join us Rosmerta my dear?" Fudge invited.

"Oh all right then, I won't say no to a bit of gossip and you know it," she said, sparkly red heels tottering away before returning and by the sound of it, with drinks.

"So what's all this about Fudge? My customers come here for a drink, not to be frightened half to death by Dementors knocking on my door every night! Scaring away good business."  
"I know Rosmerta, but it's a necessary precaution. We have a killer on the loose."  
"Oh my word- What would Sirius Black be doing in Hogsmeade?" Rosmerta asked incredulously.

"Harry Potter," Fudge whispered.

"Harry Potter?"

"Shh. Well, my dear as you know, twelve years ago You-Know-Who murdered the Potters and tried to kill their son Harry. Well they were under protection of the Fiddelius Charm," Fudge explained.

"The what?"  
"The Fiddelius Charm is a very complex charm that conceals a building's inhabitants from anyone who does not know they are there; You-Know-Who could press his face into their living room window and he wouldn't find them," Professor Flitwick explained.

"Yes, well Black was their Secret Keeper, naturally. After all, Black was best friends with James remember; never saw one without the other. Quite the double act," McGonagall went on, in a sad reminiscing tone. Harry felt his heart stop for a moment. "Apparently Dumbledore himself volunteered as Secret Keeper, but they were adamant to have Black as their Secret Keeper; and he sold them out to You-Know-Who!"

"Not even a week had passed before the Fiddelius Charm broke," Flitwick noted sadly and there was a sort of quiet sobbing howl that could only belong to Hagrid. "So Peter Pettigrew went after Black."

"Peter Pettigrew? You mean the one who always followed after Black and Potter?"  
"Yes, the little lump of a boy. I was always quite hard on him, though I wish I hadn't been so..." McGonagall sniffed. "Anyway, Pettigrew went after Black, blind with grief I suppose. He corned Black before the Ministry arrived, shouted for the whole street to hear about Black betrayal before... Before Black killed him..."

"Black was vicious; he didn't kill Pettigrew," Fudge interjected. "He destroyed him! A finger! That's all that was left, a finger! Nothing but a gaping hole in the ground and dead bodies of curious muggles who had heard the commotion..." He shuddered audibly when Hagrid let out a huge howl.

"I let 'im get away! I let the evil git go!" He sobbed for the whole pub to hear, which had gone deadly silent. "He told me to give Harry to him, said 'I'm his godfather Hagrid, I'll look after 'im!' But I said 'no, Dumbledore tol' me to take 'im to his aunt and uncle." He took a shuddering breath. "So he told me to take his bike, said he wouldn't need it anymore! Why would he give it ter me? He loved that bike! He knew it was too easy ter trace, it would stand out! And I believed 'im! But imagine if I had let 'im take Harry! Probably woulda pitched 'im off in the middle of the ocean! His best friend's son!"  
"Godfather?" Rosmerta said in a hushed whisper.

"Yes, my dear Rosmerta and that's the worst part of it all," Fudge said sadly.

"Sirius Black was, and is to this day, Harry Potter's godfather..."

Harry felt his throat constrict; he dropped his keg of butterbeer, but fortunately Hagrid began a new round of sobbing so no one heard. He looked at Bakura and the other faces of his friends peering under the table, white faced and horrified.

**To Be Continued...**

**God this is an awful chapter, you guys deserve better than this... Sorry I've been preoccupied with Truth and Lies, which is my pokémon fanfic that's been restarted to have some redevelopments. Apologies you waited so long for something so shit L**


	14. Adoption

**I am pleased to report that this story has been adopted by YinYangMoonDragon; Third Year will continue to be posted on my account here, though she will be writing from here on out. As for any others she may decide to go ahead with, I'm not sure whether they'll be here or on her account, but I'm sure you'll be satisfied with her writing ^_^ Any reviews you have for her, I'll be sure she definitely sees.**


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